Canadians stuck in Gaza tentatively set to leave as early as Monday

Dalia Salim has spent the last few days desperately trying to pass messages on to her father from the Canadian government about when he will be able to escape the besieged Gaza Strip.

As far as she knows, her 66-year-old father Sami has been sleeping in a tent on a vacant lot in the southern part of the territory, awaiting word that his name would be added to list of foreign nationals allowed to cross the Rafah border in Egypt and return to Canada.

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Communication has been difficult since her father lost phone service, and they've mainly been reduced to passing messages to each other through other people camped out around him.

She got the news that he would finally be able to leave on Monday, but then discovered the border between Gaza and Egypt was closed. She reached out to an agent with Global Affairs Canada to find out what that would mean.

"He got back to me and said no, he shouldn't go on Monday because the border is closed and there's going to be delays," said Salim, who lives in London, Ont.

Global Affairs Canada sent an email to her and other families to inform them evacuations for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and family members are tentatively scheduled to begin as early as Monday.

The agency had previously told affected people they may be able to leave "as early as Sunday," but the trickle of foreigners allowed to use the Rafah border crossing came to a halt on Saturday amid escalating attacks from Israel in retaliation for Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 incursion into that country.

With a backlog of foreign nationals waiting to get out, Salim expects the actual timeline for Canadians to depart will depend on when the border reopens.

"They're not going to be able to give us an answer," she said of the Canadian government. "They're just saying, basically, 'stay put, you are registered, and the evacuation will happen in the next few days."'

There were no clear reasons behind the closure at the Rafah crossing. A spokesman with the Palestinian Crossings Authority said Saturday that officials in Gaza didn't allow foreign passport holders to leave because Israel was preventing the evacuation of Palestinian patients for treatment in Egypt.

Despite appeals and overseas demonstrations, including in Canada, Israel has continued its bombardment across Gaza saying it is targeting Hamas and accusing it of using civilians as human shields. Critics say Israel's strikes are often disproportionate, considering the large number of civilians killed.

Salim called someone close to her father on Saturday to tell him not to go to the border on Monday and wait for her to call again. As she spoke, the TV broadcast she was watching in the background announced a potential interruption to cell service in Gaza. Palestinian communications company Paltel later confirmed all of its communication and internet services are currently down.

"If he's on the list, I don't know, how will he find out?" she asked.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2023.
-- With files from The Associated Press