'This can't continue — we're all going to die': Torontonian speaks out from Gaza

A Mississauga, Ont. woman is praying her relatives in the Gaza Strip — including several Canadian citizens and a three-year-old nephew — will be able to escape the destruction of the impending invasion, as her brother tells CTV News Toronto from the war zone he’s desperate to protect his family.

Moe Nasser, 28, a Toronto-trained digital marketing specialist, said in an interview he has fled to the city of Khan Yunis in the south, where food is scarce and no one knows which building is about to collapse amid regular missile strikes.

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“We’re lucky if we get one or two hours of sleep a day. The bombing does not stop,” Nasser said, adding that one bomb reduced the apartment across the street from his home to rubble.

Nasser is among some 150 Canadians in Gaza, according to Canadian government figures. He moved south after Israel’s military told some 1 million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza on Friday and head to the southern part of the sealed off coastal enclave ahead of an expected ground invasion, in retaliation for Hamas’ terror attack last week.

Moe Nasser said he doesn’t understand how so many people could follow that order to evacuate without huge casualties.

“There’s no water, no food for people. People are sleeping on the ground in a warehouse,” he said. “We need to do everything possible to stop what’s happening. Even if it’s a ceasefire. This can’t continue — we’re all going to die,” he said.

Moe Nasser, 28, speaks to CTV News Toronto on Oct. 13, 2023.

His nephew Basil is also fleeing the devastation having turned three on Friday, said Nasser’s 23-year-old sister Lana in Mississauga.

“It’s scary. It’s hard for me to comprehend how a three-year-old can understand bombing and not having electricity and not having clean water. Celebrating your birthday in a war zone — that’s devastating,” she said.

The Canadian government has sent military aircraft to Tel Aviv to evacuate Canadian citizens. But of the roughly 2,200 in the region, about 150 with connections to Canada are in Gaza.

The Nassers say they can’t get to that airport because they can’t travel through Israel thanks to a blockade of Gaza that has lasted more than a decade.

“Because they are Palestinian, they cannot travel through to the Tel Aviv airport,” said Michael Bueckert of the group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

“They’re banned from travelling to Canada’s evacuation because of their nationality. Canada’s evacuations are hampered by working in this unjust system,” he said.

Some Canadian groups are calling on the Canadian government to arrange passage through neighbouring Egypt and to publicly ask Israel to stop civilian deaths.

A destroyed building is seen in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack. (Supplied)

“Canada really needs to use its sway to demand that this collective punishment, which could include Canadians, stops and that humanitarian aid can get in for people so they have the basics to survive,” said Corey Balsam of Independent Jewish Voices.

Canada’s foreign minister arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday. A consular services official says there may be a short window of time on Saturday afternoon for Canadians to cross the border in to Egypt — but says the situation remains volatile.

Lana Nasser said she was shocked by the attack by Hamas fighters, who killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and abducted some 150 people.

In the week-old war, 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.

“Seeing Jewish lives taken — my heart was broken. My heart was also broken for the thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered by this disgraceful regime,” Nasser said.

“The death toll keeps rising and rising. You don’t know who is going to be targeted,” she said.