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Live blog update| Israel's war on Gaza

'I call my brother knowing he won't pick up': The anguish felt by Palestinian Americans over Gaza

Like thousands of Palestinian Americans, Nasser checks his phone the moment he wakes up and immediately reads the latest news updates from Gaza.

After scrolling through messages from friends and family, he turns to social media, trawling through photos and videos to find missing loved ones.

Sometimes, Nasser finds himself dialling his brother's number. 

But the call doesn't connect.

And he knows why.  

On 22 November, the Israeli military bombed the building in which his brother and more than three dozen other family members were living.

In total, 42 family members - men, women and children - were immediately buried under the rubble.

But because his brother's body, like so many others, was not retrieved from under the heaps of concrete and twisted steel, Nasser is still holding out on the remote possibility that his beloved brother may have survived. 

"Sometimes I be calling my brother. He's dead. I know it," Nasser, who asked to be identified by his first name only, told MEE.

"I can't believe this happened. I know they did it, but I cannot believe it. I can't take it," he added.

Read more: 'I call my brother knowing he won't pick up': The anguish felt by Palestinian Americans over Gaza

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