Canadian returns home after being stuck in Gaza for almost 2 months

It took multiple attempts for 73-year-old Akram to cross the Rafah border from Gaza into Egypt, but he finally made it home to Canada after being stuck there for almost two months.

At Toronto Pearson Airport, greeted by his children and grandchildren, he told CityNews he was glad to return home for good.

Akram left Canada in late September to visit family in Northern Gaza and was there on Oct. 7.

Since the war broke out, his children, including daughter Samah, had been urging the federal government to do more for Canadians stuck in Gaza.

It was an emotional reunion as Akram recounted his harrowing journey from northern Gaza to the border. He made the trek alone, first by walking. Eventually, kind people gave him a ride, but along the way, he witnessed destruction and dead bodies as he escaped danger. 

Akram was supposed to make the journey with his brother, but his family wasn’t able to accompany him so he remains behind in Gaza.

He had made it to the border prior to his eventual crossing several times but was told the border was closed to Canadians that day, adding that he saw missiles that eventually hit Gaza.

“I had to put my passport in my hand, can’t turn right, can’t turn left. [They] shoot you right away,” said Akram

He also recounted calling his wife in London, Ont., to say he might not make it home. His daughter then reassured him they were doing everything to get him back to Canada.

“I said we don’t think like that. We need to think happy thoughts. We were fighting left and right to get Canadians out,” said Samah.

While happy to be home, he fears for those he left in Gaza.

“It’s too hard, too hard to find food, too hard to find water, too hard to find bread, too hard to find anything to eat,” Akram said.

“There is no safe place.”

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Samah said they are now turning their attention to hopefully helping other family members escape Gaza and out of harm’s way.

“It’s happiness filled with sorrow… we still have family there. We don’t know anything about them. We haven’t been able to contact them at all. All we’re asking for is a ceasefire. Canada should be asking for a ceasefire.”

No Canadians were on Tuesday’s list of foreign nationals approved to leave the besieged Gaza Strip and cross into Egypt via the Rafah border crossing. More than 450 people with ties to Canada have managed to escape the Palestinian territory.

The war began Oct. 7 with attacks on Israel, in which Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and took roughly 240 people hostage.

Israel declared war, cut off critical supplies to the controlled Gaza Strip and began a military campaign against Hamas, which Canada and other Western allies have long deemed a terrorist group.

Health officials in Gaza say more than 12,700 people in the territory have been killed, and another 2,700 people have been reported missing.

With files from The Canadian Press