Palestinian Canadians say their families are dying in Gaza while they wait to come to Canada

Maher Alanqarsat and watched his nephew suffer. The video shot by a CBC News freelancer captured every scream, every spasm as 10-year-oldAdam Abu Ajwacalled out for help after the home where he was sheltering with his parents and siblings in Khan Younis, Gaza was hit by a grenade on Jan. 17.

Adamsuffered third-degree burns; his older sister Zeina, 26, escaped with burns andbroken bones after being trappedunder rubble forhours. They were the only ones in the house to survive. Their mother Hana and oldest brother Amr died and were buried in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital, one of the main hospitals in the central Gaza Strip.

Alanqar's mouth twitched with every scream as he watched doctors workto treat the boy's wounds withoutanesthesia. He told CBC News on Feb. 4 he had applied to get his sister and her kids out of Gaza undera special immigration measures program for extended family members of Palestinian Canadians.

They were waiting for news when their home was hit.

"It's hard It's hard to watch this," saidAlanqar.

"We're sitting here ...in a safe place in Canada. I have my kids with me but my sisters, niece and nephew, they're not safe. And we don't know what to do, how to help them, how to get them out of there."

WATCH |A Canadian's agonizing wait to get loved ones out of Gaza:

A Canadians agonizing wait to get loved ones out of Gaza

8 months ago

Duration 2:00

A month after the federal government pledged to issue temporary visas for Gazans with Canadian relatives, families are still waiting. Including Maher Alanqar, who has had several family members die in the interim and is fighting to get the survivors to safety.

The federal government launched the special program last month after Palestinian Canadians pleaded for months for help with getting their loved ones out of Gaza.

The programoffer visas to a maximum of 1,000 Gaza residents, allowing them to take refuge in Canada for three years if their families are willing to financially support them during that time.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller has said the 1,000-application limit is not a hard cap and could be extended.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says that almost 1,000 applications under theprogram have reached the second phase and are awaiting final admissibility decisions.

Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel on Oct. 7 during Hamas-led attacks, including several Canadians; Israeli officials said 253 others were taken hostage, with about 130 yet to return home.Palestinian officials say more than 27,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military response to the Hamas-led attacks.

A spokesperson for Miller confirmed to CBC News that no one registered with Canada has been able to flee Gaza under the new program. That's leftmany Palestinian Canadians anxiously waiting for word that their loved ones have been allowed to leave or that they've joined the Israel-Hamaswar's growing list of casualties.

Alanqar said he applied on behalf ofhis sister and her childrenon Jan. 9, when the program opened. Hana and Amr died just eight days after their application was put through to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

He said he is hoping now he can get his niece and nephew out of the war zone before it's too late, but he has yet to hear anything back from the federal government on the status of the applications.

"You're trying to help, but the process or the whole system is not helping you out, whether it's here or there," he said. "Nobody has done anything so far."

WATCH |Calgary man trying to get pregnant sister out of Gaza:

Calgary man trying to get pregnant sister out of Gaza

8 months ago

Duration 7:34

Calgary resident Tamer Jarada, who says he has lost 16 family members since the Israel-Hamas war started, tells Rosemary Barton Live he is trying to get his pregnant sister out of Gaza using Canada's special visa application process

Tamer Jarada of Calgarysaid he has lost 16 family members since the war started. He said heapplied to bringhis remaining family from Gaza to Canada on Jan. 9 including his sister, who is pregnant and due Feb. 5.

Jarada got to the second stage of the application process, which allowed him to apply for a temporary residency visa for his sister. But he said he said he hasn't heard from Immigration Canada about next steps in weeks.

"Every time I call, she's crying. She's begging me to help her,"he said. "I'm doing beyond my best to help her but my government is not listening, is not doing what they are supposed to be doing."

In an interview with the CBC's Rosemary Bartonthat aired Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly said she and Miller are working hard on the issue.

"We made a commitment to these families. I know that these families are also waiting impatiently to leave," she said. "And so that's why we will continue to pressure the Israeli authorities and also the Egyptian government, which we also need the authorization from."

Joly said getting people out of Gaza is a top priorityfor the government.

"You have my personal commitment, Canadians have my personal commitment, that this is a very important priority," she said.

WATCH | Foreign Affairs Minister Joly on getting Canadians' relatives out of Gaza:

Canada aiding efforts to find Ukrainian children who were forcibly deported, says Joly

8 months ago

Duration 8:45

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mlanie Joly made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Friday. CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton spoke to Joly about Ottawa's initiative to reunite families there, as well as escalating tensions throughout the Middle East.

In a Jan. 9 interview with David Cochrane, host ofCBC's Power and Politics, Miller said the government could offer no "guarantees" to people seeking itshelp to escape Gaza. He cited ongoing problemswith access to the RafahGate crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.

"These are elements that are not under the control of Canadian authorities," he said. "In addition to those two actors [Israel and Egypt], Hamas, a terrorist organization that has committed untold atrocities, has their word to say and sometimes plays games at that same border crossing."

Miller also pointed to the problems Canadian authorities faced whenevacuating Canadians from the enclave back in November 2023, citing the way the border crossing would be closed on very short notice.

"So no guarantee that people can get out, but the effort is worth it,"he said. "We think this is the humane thing to do for Canadians that have connections to people that are trying to just simply stay alive."

Back at the Nasser Hospital Complex in Khan Younis, Zeina Abu Ajwa has been spending her days sittingby her brother's bed, comforting him through his agony every timehis bandages are changed.

"He suffers third-degree burns on both legs, so changing every day is very important. But that causes a lot of pain," she said.

She said that on the day of the attack, it took hours for someone to come to their aid.

"We lived almost 10 hours of horror and pain.I was under the rubble for eight hours," she said. "My brother was out in the open bleeding."

Alanqarsaid he wants to see more from the federal government than expressions of sympathy.

"Saving lives should be the top priority for any government or any official," he said. "My mom was devastated because she couldn't say the last word goodbye to her daughter

"Parents, they would expect that their children bury them, not the other way around."