"He called us and told us he was going into a shelter at 6:30, and since then, we never heard from him back. He went there with a friend and they're both missing," said his son, Igor Kimenfeld.
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Igor lives in Gibbsboro, New Jersey.
He got on a plane to Israel as soon as he could to be with his mom and brother as they waited for news about his father. They're living about 10 minutes outside of Gaza.
"Nobody's calling us, nobody's informing us of anything. We gave all the details. We gave DNA samples," said Igor. "You can't go out to look for him because there's still terrorists lurking and there's rockets all the time."
As people continue to search for their loved ones, on Thursday U.S. officials said they're arranging charter flights to get U.S. citizens and immediate family members from Israel to Europe.
But many are left mourning those who did not make it out.
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"He had sent his wife and two kids to the shelter, but he had stayed out trying to take care of the wounded because there were many of them," said Dr. Jack Ludmir, an obstetrician in Philadelphia at Temple Women's Hospital.
His nephew, Dr. Dani Levi Ludmir, was killed in Israel. The 36-year-old lived two miles outside the Gaza Strip.
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He was shot and killed, according to his family, and found at the medical clinic where he worked.
"She had asked him to please come to the shelter with the kids and he said, 'Absolutely not. I'm a physician. And my mission is to save lives," said Ludmir.
Ludmir says he had just visited his nephew and his family in April.
He also has brothers who are deployed and now fighting for Israel.
Despite everything, he says he hopes that peace will come out of this situation.