Toronto-area man with 13 relatives killed in Gaza clings to hope as mother trapped at Rafah crossing

Ousama Alshurafa has spent the last week and a half anxiously waiting for a phone call from family members stuck in Gaza.

"We're waiting for that phone call. Every time my phone rings, it's like I've got a hand on the phone and another hand on my heart just waiting for that news," Alshurafa said.

"Chances are we are going to receive some bad news any day now." 

Alshurafa, who lives in Mississauga, Ont., says he last heard from family members evacuating the northern part of Gaza earlier this week. Some were planning to head to Al-Ahli Arab Hospital to seek shelter, hoping to find some safety there amidst ongoing rocket barrage in the city. But not all of them were able to leave.

"It's easy to say, 'Move to the south,' but you've got to imagine, not everybody [can]. Elderly, no fuel, exhausted over the last few days," he said. 

Alshurafa says he has not heard from any of his wife's family members since, and doesn't know if they are alive or dead. Meanwhile his mother, Naela Alshurafa, an American citizen, is stuck near Egypt's Rafah crossing, waiting to see if she can escape Gaza. 

So far, 13 of Alshurafa's family members on his wife's side have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, he says.

Gaza continues to be under a complete siege since Hamas's deadly attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7 which killed 1,400 people while Israel has carried out unrelenting airstrikes against Gaza since. Large areas in the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble with the death toll roughly at 4,200 people, according to the United Nations. 

Hundreds of people were estimated to be killed in the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital blast Tuesday, where many Palestinians had sought shelter. A Gazan health ministry spokesperson said hundreds were killed and rescuers were still pulling bodies from the rubble Wednesday. Earlier, a Gaza civil defence chief gave a death toll of 300, while health ministry sources put it at 500.

The ministry in Gaza said the hospital was hit by an Israel airstrike while the Israeli government denied involvement, claiming the hospital blast was a misfired rocket from the militant group Islamic Jihad

'We're unable to sleep'

Alshurufa says he had to fly to Los Angeles to take care of his sister who has special needs, while his mother continues to be stuck in Gaza, not knowing if she will be able to get back to the U.S.

"This is the result of collective punishment [and] forced displacement by the Israeli government, and right now, quite frankly, we feel like second-class U.S. citizens, because it seems like the American citizens in Gaza, their lives don't really matter," said Alshurafa, who is a dual Canadian-American citizen.

LISTEN | Palestinian-Canadian says his mother is stuck in Gaza:

Meanwhile, he says he has had to pull his kids from school and keep them at home.

"The suffering and all the pain that we're going through and the trauma that my kids are experiencing ... we're unable to sleep," Alshurafa said. 

"I'm not sure what to do ... it's a complete mess. I don't know how to deal with it. I break down from time to time."

Gaza hospital was a community hub

Toronto resident Hammam Farah, who was born in the hospital that was hit, says he was "horrified" and went into a state of panic when he heard what had happened, knowing his family was sheltering nearby.

Farah says a number of his aunts, uncles and cousins were sheltering at a church in the area of the hospital when it was hit. Although they were luckily not injured in the attack, they are on the brink of starvation and are in a dire situation, waiting for help, he says.

They don't know what's going to come of their lives in the near future. It's a horrific situation,. There's death all around them.- Hammam Farah, Palestinian-Canadian

"My aunt said that they can smell the burning bodies nearby and they're terrified. They're trying to survive [but] they have little food left," Farah said.

"They don't know what's going to come of their lives in the near future. It's a horrific situation. There's death all around them."

He says the attacked facility was more than just a hospital, it was a community hub. 

"There's a community centre. The church was responsible for many of the community programs for families, for children, playgrounds," Farah said in an interview with CBC Toronto Wednesday. "It also provided free medical services for women, the people with disabilities and the disadvantaged."

The church in the hospital was destroyed, Farah says. 

Farah's grandfather used to work at the hospital as a procurement manager, responsible for bringing in supplies, medicine and food to the hospital.

"I have very early memories, as a child, my grandfather used to take me there," he said.

"Before that, a long time ago, he used to work in the cafeteria of the hospital. This hospital has been around since the 1800s, even longer than the creation of the state of Israel."

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel will not allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza from the Israeli side of the border, but will not block aid coming from Egypt. The move comes after politicians, advocates and humanitarian groups pleaded for food, water and medicine to be allowed into Gaza by way of a humanitarian corridor.

Global Affairs Canada has said Canada knows of 370 people — including Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families — in Gaza.