"I'm scared": Canadian mom in Gaza urges Ottawa to negotiate safe passage with Israel
When Khloud Fayyad touched down in Gaza at the beginning of October, her plan was to stay for only two weeks to visit her sick father.
Now, almost two weeks into Israel’s siege and blockade on the territory, the Mississauga resident finds herself stuck there with little food and water and no electricity.
In an interview with The Canadian Press last week, Fayyad was urgent with her pleas for help from the Canadian government.
“Please, please, please, please help us,” she told reporter Fakiha Baig.
A week later, in a phone call with Daily Hive on October 18, Fayyad sounded dejected.
“If the government wanted to do anything, they [would] do [it], but I didn’t think they do anything for us,” she said from Khan Yunis, a city in southern Gaza.
“They [can] at least make an agreement with Israel to let us go out of Gaza… that’s it, to save our lives.”
Failed evacuation
On Saturday, October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the country at war after the Gaza Strip’s governing extremist militant group Hamas fired thousands of rockets, and fighters infiltrated the border in several locations.
Israel has called it a terrorist attack, which killed over 1,400 people, most of whom were civilians.
Hamas has said the attack was in response to the worsening treatment of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the expansion of Israeli settlements. The Government of Canada has classified Hamas as a “radical Islamist-nationalist terrorist organization.”
The group also cited the boiling over of anger towards the Israeli government’s policies, including outbreaks of violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
As of October 19, there have been over 1,400 killed in Israel and at least 3,785 killed in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides.
In Global Affairs Canada’s latest update on October 19, six Canadians have been confirmed killed amid the conflict while two Canadians are still missing.
View this post on Instagram
Fayyad said she tried to evacuate through the Rafah Border Crossing twice. It’s located on the Gaza-Egypt border and is the only exit that isn’t controlled by Israel.
“They didn’t allow us to go outside, and they didn’t open the border for us,” she said.
Egypt controls the Rafah border and hasn’t allowed anyone from Gaza to cross into the country.
Over the weekend, plans for Canadians to evacuate Gaza via the crossing were cancelled due to “violence” around the border.
Fayyad recalled narrowly escaping Israeli airstrikes while attempting to flee through the border.
While a safe passage for civilians hasn’t been created in the territory that is home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, Israel has agreed to allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid through the Rafah border.
In limbo
For now, the mother of three is in limbo, sheltering at her family’s home and waiting for any possibility of evacuation.
“I’m scared and very sad,” she said. “I can’t describe my feelings because there are a lot of things I didn’t imagine.”
Fayyad said four of her family members were killed within the first four days of Israel’s bombardment.
“When I see the children around their mother crying and scared, that’s very hard. It’s not easy to see this,” she added.
Her children live in Mississauga, and she hasn’t seen their faces and has only heard their voices since the beginning of the Israeli blockade.
“Can you imagine? I haven’t seen them. I can’t open video because there [isn’t] enough internet for video,” she said.
Daily Hive has reached out to her son and daughter for comment.
“People in Gaza… have a right to live”
View this post on Instagram
Global Affairs Canada says the government is continuing to provide flights for Canadians, permanent residents and eligible family members from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv to Athens, Greece.
As for finding a safe passage for Canadians from Gaza to Egypt, the agency says the government is working with its Israeli and Egyptian counterparts to try and make it happen.
It adds that it is in contact with 413 Canadians who are stuck in Gaza and have requested assistance.
Fayyad said she called the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv to alert them that she was stuck in Gaza. She said they promised to call her back but haven’t.
She also contacted the United Nations emergency line, but she said they didn’t answer the phone.
Global Affairs has yet to respond to Daily Hive’s request for comment on Fayyad’s specific case.
While Fayyad waits for answers, she pleads for the lives of Palestinians.
“People are dying around their family, around their mother and father without any reason, just because they live in Gaza,” she said. “People in Gaza have all the right, like people in Canada, like people in Israel, like people in America, they have a right to live.”
- You might also like:
- "We can't breathe": Palestinian woman documents Israel bombing Gaza Strip in alarming video
- "He died a hero": Montreal man among those killed in Israel amid Hamas attacks
- Plan for Canadians to evacuate Gaza via crossing into Egypt cancelled
Follow Channels and Categories