Chicago-area family trapped in Gaza waiting near Egyptian border to escape war with Hamas

CHICAGO (WLS) -- As deaths mount from the battlefield and a humanitarian crisis grows at the border of Gaza and Israel, some people from the Chicago area are caught up in the misery on both fronts.

Emilee Rauschenberger, her Palestinian-born husband and their five children were in Gaza visiting their in-laws and relatives when their holiday ended with war.

The family has relocated several times for safety and eventually ended up at the border with Egypt, at the Rafah crossing, which remains closed and is now standing between them and freedom.

They join a growing group of Palestinians, Americans, residents and visitors who want to leave, but can't.

The I-Team talked with long time Chicagoan John Rauschenberger about his daughter's plight and the family's desperate efforts to come home.

"Egypt is willing to open up the Rafah IRA, ah, border crossing into Egypt. But the Israelis won't let them open it up and keep bombing it. And we don't understand why they keep bombing it," Rauschenberger said.

The family of seven is now living in a three bedroom house with 24 other people. They provided the I-Team with a video diary documenting the efforts to flee the war and find a safe haven.

"The bottom line is Gaza is an open air prison. No one's going in or out until and unless the there's an agreement that involves Egyptians, the Israelis and Hamas," said Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, a Northwestern political science professor and Middle East expert.

Hurd said with more than 100 aid trucks waiting to get in and thousands of people in need, there are security questions about who's crossing and whether an Israeli bombing campaign has damaged the gate mechanism. It may all come down to who blinks first.

"Yeah, I mean it very well could be I think that we'll probably see some kind of compromise for a temporary opening of the gate and a very careful exchange have certain individuals who will be allowed out some of the dual nationals some of the foreigners in exchange for a limited amount of aid going in. I would expect to see that compromise very soon. But I don't think there's going to be a simply opening of the gates and anyone who would wish to cross into Sinai would be able to do so," she said.

The leaders who hold keys to that border gate all have differing vested interests in what happens once the locks are opened.

According to Hurd, Egypt doesn't want to be seen as giving up on Gaza and Palestinian statehood. And then there is the American political muscle.

So far, that hasn't succeeded in unlocking border gates or a way out of this worst-ever threat to modern day Israel.