Shuk al-Najjar has difficulty containing his anger when talking about the family he left behind in Gaza.
“They are living in hell,” she said. “It’s very dangerous out there.”
Al-Najjar, a Palestinian-Canadian, was living in Gaza City with her Palestinian husband when Israel declared war on Hamas following the group’s brutal attack on Israeli civilians on October 7.
After weeks of waiting and anxious calls to Global Affairs Canada, Al-Najjar decided to get herself, her husband and her mother on the approval list to leave Gaza through the Rafah Gate border crossing. was completed.
Al-Najjar and his mother evacuated from Gaza on November 12. They are now in Cairo. Her husband remains behind to care for her mother, who needs care after her knee surgery, and is not included in the list of people approved for her departure from the Gaza Strip. she stated.
Al-Najjar said she was told by International Affairs Canada that her mother-in-law “does not meet the criteria for being a next of kin” and is therefore ineligible to leave the country.
“They don’t care that my husband died in Gaza,” she said of Global Affairs Canada. “I can’t believe we’re being treated this way.” Ta.
Al-Najjar is never alone. Global Affairs Canada said in a statement to CBC News that as of Dec. 7, approximately 200 Canadian citizens and permanent residents and their families were stranded in Gaza, trying to escape. He said there was. The government says it cannot comment on individual cases.
“We don’t want to die.”
From his home in Burlington, Ont., Nael Alharis relies on telephone updates from his wife, Enas, and their young children, who are also trapped in Gaza.
“They say, ‘Baba, I miss you. I don’t want to die. I want to be with you,'” Alharis said of a conversation he had with his 13-year-old daughter Rayan and 9-year-old son. Kareem.
“It’s really heartbreaking. It’s a heartbreaking situation. My heart is broken and I cry.”
Al-Harith’s children are on the list to leave the Gaza Strip. His wife is not. He said he has contacted his local Canadian parliamentarian’s office and international affairs office to defend his wife.
Alharis’ wife and children live in Gaza full time, but he splits his time between Canada and the Gaza Strip. His family is suffering, he said.
“Our children don’t have blankets to keep them warm. We don’t have hot water to wash them,” he said, adding that he has taken only two showers in the past two months.
“I’m traumatized. And I’m not constantly being bombed. What about my family? What about my children?”
“Every millisecond means life or death to my family. This is the message that the Canadian government must act.”
Canada’s immigration minister said expelling Canadian families from Gaza remains a priority.
Many Canadians and permanent residents evacuated from Gaza say Canada needs to expand the definition of next of kin to allow remaining relatives to flee safely.
“We are in hourly contact with officials on the ground and are calling for an expanded population of Canadians, permanent residents and their families to evacuate,” Mark Miller told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday. he said.
Miller said Israel, Egypt and Hamas will ultimately decide who gets out of Gaza, not Canada.
“No matter how much we advocate and how many policies we put in place and maybe issue visas, that’s no guarantee that these people will actually leave the country,” he said.
“There are people on our list who unfortunately could not be extracted.”
Asked if the Canadian government was looking to obtain visas for Canadian family members, Miller said the government was pursuing “a number of options” but could not disclose those plans.
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Canadian Asia Maskour fled war-torn Gaza a few weeks ago with her husband and two young children. But she says she feels survivor’s guilt regarding the family she left behind. “My heart is in Gaza and my father is in Gaza,” she told Power & Politics.
