tate Department struggles to explain why American citizens still can't exit Gaza

Officials gave different answers publicly and privately, messages show.

When Abood Okal, a 36-year-old American father trapped in Gaza, received word from U.S. State Department officials informing him the Rafah crossing into Egypt would likely open on Oct. 21 for the first time since Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel two weeks before, he thought the nightmare he has been enduring with his wife and young son might finally be coming to an end.

He took his family to the gate and waited all day, his lawyer Sammy Nabulsi said. But while humanitarian aid was allowed to enter into Gaza, no one was allowed to exit.

In the days that followed, the State Department blamed a single culprit: Hamas. However, according to emails and messages reviewed by ABC News, U.S. officials privately provided a different explanation to Okal, saying their inability to cross the border was the result of a failure to lock up a diplomatic agreement among Israel, Egypt and the terrorist group to grant Americans safe passage out of Gaza.

"There's more than one sticking point. We need Egypt, Israel, and the DFA to all agree," a senior State Department official wrote in an email sent Saturday to Nabulsi, presumably using the acronym "DFA" to refer to the de facto authorities controlling Gaza: Hamas. "We are very close to agreement with two of the three. And we are working the third very hard."