'I don't sleep': Man from Gaza desperate to bring family to Saskatoon amid limited visas
CBC
Ahmed Qudaih says that while his family sheltered from bombings in a school in Gaza, he sat in a Saskatoon condo asking himself if he was dreaming.
Qudaih, 29, lives in Saskatoon as a permanent resident, but he had to leave everything behind to get here — including his three brothers, three sisters and elderly parents.
Now he's doing everything in his power to bring three family members to Saskatoon.
"My mental health is destroyed. I'm tired all the time, I don't sleep," said Qudaih, speaking with the help of a translator during a recent interview with CBC in his Saskatoon refugee sponsor's condo.
Qudaih was born and raised in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip near the Mediterranean sea.
He said he grew up dreaming of a simple life, with freedom, safety and stability, but that the never-ending conflict between Israel and Palestinians made that impossible.
"I saw there was no future there or work or anything," he said.
"There's no way for us to progress. Every time we try to move forward, they bring us backward."
The Gaza Health Ministry says roughly 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the current war in October, which began after a deadly attack by Hamas took the lives of an estimated 1,200 Israelis.
Qudaih said his family home was bulldozed by Israeli forces back in the 2014 war, and destroyed again in this current conflict. They were displaced like thousands of others in Gaza in recent months.
He's only been able to talk with his mother and father for minutes in total since Oct. 7.
"I'm devastated, I've reached a point where I can't process what's going on, is this a dream?"
WATCH | This grocery store worker from Saskatoon is trying to get his 3 brothers out of Gaza:
He periodically receives videos and photos from his brothers, most recently showing the conditions at the United Nations' UNRWA school in Khan Younis, where his family was taking shelter. At latest word they were headed to the city of Rafah.
It was just a few months ago that U.S. President Donald Trump told the world he doesn’t want Canadian cars.
Flu cases across Canada are on the rise and may push hospitals to their limits over the holidays and into the new year, leading health officials in regions across the country to warn people not to visit emergency rooms unless it's absolutely necessary.
More than 30 years after Canada's military allowed women to serve in combat roles, it's now specifically designing uniforms and body armour to fit their bodies.
The holiday season has arrived in Thunder Bay, and that means reduced hours, or closures, for businesses, city offices, and other amenities.
As Toronto’s food scene continues to grow, some in the industry say the pool of professional chefs hasn’t kept up with demand.
Police have charged a truck driver from the Hamilton area in a hit-and-run crash that killed a tow truck operator who had been stopped while helping a driver on the side of Highway 401 outside Woodstock, Ont.
Power has been restored to most of Haines Junction after a problem earlier on Monday at the local generating station.
A 56-year-old man will return to court on Tuesday for a charge of second-degree murder, laid in a case London police have called an act of femicide.
The chairman of the committee leading Newfoundland and Labrador's independent review of the Churchill Falls memorandum of understanding with Quebec is backing the impartiality of his three-man team.
The province has taken a major step toward restarting its onshore natural gas industry.
Allan Legere, serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Alberta, has been denied a request for full parole.
Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club has asked a judge to decide whether the City of Winnipeg can ignore a provincial decision about residential housing slated to rise next to the club.
A Saskatoon woman says she watched her neighbour's police standoff play out in real time on social media.