Canadians with loved ones in Gaza say they're terrified their relatives will soon die now that Israel's military has told about one million Palestinians to evacuate northern parts of the sealed-off territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.
The United Nations has warned that an evacuation on that scale – almost half the Gaza population – could be calamitous and urged Israel to reverse the order. Hamas, which staged a brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since, called on people to stay in their homes.
For Montreal resident Dalya Shaath, the barely 24 hours since Israel's evacuation order has been deeply distressful.
"My family is dying," Shaath said as she wept during a phone interview on Friday morning.
"My one cousin sent me a message on Facebook saying, 'Dalya, my love, I don't know if I'm gonna talk to you again.'"
Another cousin in Gaza called at 2 a.m. to say some family members were trying to evacuate, she said.
"My cousin called my father to tell us, 'We're leaving home and we don't know where we're going,'" Shaath said. "My other cousin said that he's not leaving."
Shaath said some of her loved ones have said they are staying in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Rimal to remain with elderly family members who are unable to leave. Some of those relatives have shared their final goodbyes, she said.
In London, Ont., Reem Sultan said she had been receiving similar messages from some family members in northern Gaza while she had been unable to reach others.
"I am holding my breath and I don't know what to say. There are no words to describe the gut-wrenching feeling I'm feeling right now," the 49-year-old said in a phone interview.
"The last message I received was at eight in the morning, where my cousin was telling me that, 'We've been ordered to leave the schools.' But he didn't ... tell me what they're going to do."
Other relatives she has been able to connect with have made it clear they currently don't feel able to evacuate, she said.
"One cousin ... said they're not planning to leave because you're talking about one million people that are being displaced, it cannot physically happen," Sultan said.
Sultan said her cousin told her Gaza is in shambles and a mass exodus to the south seems impossible.
"Israel is asking for something that cannot happen. There's no fuel. People have to walk. So we're talking about very long distance over broken roads and concrete," she said. "There's not a single neighborhood that's intact."
On Friday, safety was uncertain everywhere in Gaza, which has already been under constant bombardment by retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. The territory has been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies and under a virtual total power blackout.
Israel said it needed to target Hamas's military infrastructure, much of which is buried deep underground.
"The camouflage of the terrorists is the civil population,'' Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at a news conference. "Therefore, we need to separate them. So those who want to save their life, please go south.''
The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that roughly 1,800 people have been killed in the territory – more than half of them under the age of 18, or women. Hamas's assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.
Back in Canada, both Sultan and Shaath called on Canada and the international community to seek an end to the war.
"This is a collective punishment of innocent people," Sultan said.
- with files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2023.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
