The Current - Life under fire: One family’s plea from Gaza

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Israel is weighing a ceasefire proposal that could pause nearly two years of war in Gaza, but it’s also preparing to send tens of thousands of troops into Gaza City.  Among those waiting anxiously are the Abushbak family, Canadian permanent residents trapped in Gaza.  Karim Abushbak shares what daily life is like for his family as they plead for help from Ottawa.  Plus, journalist Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps joins us from Tel Aviv on the pressures facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israelis protest for the release of hostages.

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Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. After nearly two years of war, there's both a renewed possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza and the prospect of the violence escalating. Earlier this week, Hamas accepted a proposal from Arab mediators for a ceasefire and a hostage release deal. So far, Israel has not responded to the proposal. Meanwhile, the Israeli military says it has begun the preliminary actions of a ground offensive to occupy all of Gaza City and is ordering residents to evacuate. Among them are the Abushback family.

They are permanent residents of Canada who live in B.C., but were in Gaza visiting family and have been trapped there since the war began. And they are trying to return home to Canada. Karim Abushback is in Gaza City, and we spoke to him earlier this morning. Hello to you, Bikato, and everyone who is with us. Karim, we have heard that there has been some bombing, some assault already happening overnight in Gaza City. Have you heard or seen any of this so far? Yes, it was one of the toughest nights from the beginning of the war. We couldn't sleep at all this night.

Tell me what you heard, what you saw. Just a lot of bombing, bombing, bombing, demolishing houses, bullets, a lot of bullets, actually. It was just a very, very tough night. And what kind of home are you staying in right now? I'm actually staying in a very affected home. I'm staying in a room with five people. I'm sorry if you hear buzzing sound. This is the Israeli drones that you're hearing.

I'm currently living in a house that is affected by the war. I'm living in a room with no room. It's just covered with the curtains. With me, myself, my dad, my mom, and my two sisters. We're all crowded in the same room. And this room has 60 people in it. We all share the same bathroom. It's just an absolute nightmare.

How long have you been living like that? It has been for almost three months now. Since the first ceasefire, we were in... Can I tell you my story from the beginning? Absolutely. When the war started, we moved out from our home in Jabalia. We moved to our granddad house and stayed there for about four days. After that, the army forced everyone to leave North Gaza completely.

So we fled south to Kanunis and stayed there in our relative south. We were there for almost two months. After that, the army ordered us again to leave Kanunis. Everyone must leave Kanunis now, or they will be killed. After that, we went to Raf for four months. We lived in a tent there. It was just cold. The water was dropping on us.

It was crowded. What time got better? The order came again, leave Rafah again. Then after that, we moved to Daril Balah. We found a room. the bathroom there was clouded as well. We, after that, after the first ceasefire, we went back to our home. We went back to North Gaza in hope that our home is not affected.

But unfortunately, our house was completely destroyed. So when we went back to our granddad house that we are staying now, it's just so crowded to survive, waiting for help that never seems to come. Do you have food? A little bit, but it's just very, very, very low-quality food. We haven't eaten any sort of meat for two years now. We haven't seen vegetables, haven't seen any kind of food for almost two years. We're living on bed, just with.

How old are your sisters that you're staying with? My older sister is about 17, and the other sister is about 15 years old. They're just struggling. Like, I'm 21 years old, and very struggling, and you just can't imagine how is it for them. You are a permanent resident of Canada. How is it that you're stuck there? What have you heard about your chances of returning home to Canada? We don't have any, like my sister, my older sister, Taylor, who got evacuated, actually.

She signed up for a BRTD, a permanent travel document, and got evacuated. So that gave us hope that we signed for BRTD as well. The problem is that her BRTD only took 20 days, and after that she got evacuated, and she currently in Canada, safe and sound. But for us, it's now going three months and going. So we don't know where's the problem. One of your sisters has made it back home to Surrey, B.C., but you don't understand at this point why you haven't been given the same permission.

Yes, the only difference is that her paper went to Tel Aviv, but ours went to Amman. That's the only difference. And we don't know why he went to Tel Aviv and ours went to Amman. We called everybody, literally everybody. We called the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv, the Canadian embassy in Ramallah. in Jordan, we called the IRCC in Ottawa, and they all girls give us no response. Just wait, we can't do anything, and that's it. We did ask for answers from the immigration minister, Lena Diebb's office.

They said they couldn't comment on your case for privacy reasons. The statement said that all PRTD applications are processed on a priority basis. These are the applications for permanent residents to return back. What do you want the Canadian government to understand about your situation? And you've told us a little bit about it here, but it's unimaginable what you're living through. What do you want Canadians and the Canadian government to know? We want them to deal us not like any case. It's not about Babar work.

It's our lives. We're living in everyday hell. Like, it's an absolute nightmare here. It's not about bureaucracy or some paper work. It's our life. Every day matter. Every minute matters. Like now I'm safe and talking to you, and no one knows what will happen in the next minute.

How far did you have to walk or where did you go to get a connection to speak to us? I almost walked. My dad wanted to come, but he couldn't continue the journey. We have walked almost 10 miles just to get a good internet connection to be able to make this phone call. Ten miles? Yes. Wow. Well, thank you for taking the time and the effort to get there.

Are you safe where you are right now? No one's safe. No one's safe in Gaza. It's just about. time. No, there's no such thing as a safe place. Can you hear? I don't know if can you hear the drone sounds, the buzzing drone sounds. They're looking for something to shoot. We hope we're safe, but there's no safe place in Gaza. What more do you want the Canadian government to do, aside from getting you and your family out? Is there more that you hope the Canadian government

will do for the Palestinian people? Just recognize the state of Palestine. That will mean a lot for us, especially in the Gaza Strip. And, you know, stop the... relations with any Israeli or the idea. And for me, personally, just bring me back to Canada. That will be the hope for us, for Ashbach family. There is

talk of a ceasefire, but we also know there's talk of a full assault on Gaza City. So do you have any hope that efforts to broker a ceasefire will come to fruition? We wish there's a ceasefire, but we heard this a lot of times, but only

one time there's a ceasefire going. And if they invade the Gaza city, it will be just an absolute nightmare for the fifth time. We'll get this place. But this time is different. We have nowhere to stay. Every shelter is overflowing. The street is a potential target.

We will be completely exposed. We will live in the streets. And if the ceasefire happened, this will save us. But we got sick of this fire, a ceasefire, here, this fire there. But at the end, there's nothing. There's just more killing, more invasion, more famine. There's absolutely nothing.

Kareem, when you hang up with me, what will you do next? I will get back home to tell my family about this and make sure they sound, because just before you called me, I heard a bomb, and I don't know where. I just want to make sure that they're safe. Karim Abushabak, I appreciate you walking and trying and talking to us this morning. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you very much, Rebecca. I'm speaking with you today, just gave us a lot of hope.

I'm just so grateful for the chance to share out with you and your audience. Karim Abushbach is a permanent resident of Canada trapped in Gaza with his family. He was in Gaza City. Guess who just bundled their home in auto with Desjardin insurance? Well, look at you, all grown up and saving money. Yes, I am. Mom told you to do it, didn't she? Yes, she did.

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Thank you for supporting C&E Foundation Community and Youth Programs. Play responsibly. License RAF 14868559. Come and celebrate Toronto and do everything you want to have to the X. On Sunday, protesters led by families of Israeli hostages took to the streets to call for the release of their loved ones still held in Gaza. For more, I'm joined by Emmanuel Elbez Phelps. She is an independent journalist based in Tel Aviv and the correspondent for Le Point in Israel.

We spoke to her earlier this morning before connecting with Karim. Hello, how are you doing? I'm doing well. We are hearing, of course, that there has been some strikes in Gaza City. We'll get to that here in a moment. But first of all, what can you tell us about this proposed deal that the Qatari and Egyptian mediators put forward? We don't have all the details yet, but what we know is that Hamas has given his positive response. saying that they will agree to this release of 10 hostages, not 10 in one day, but probably eight on the first day

and two at the end of the 60 days. And then there would be another round of negotiations and also maybe getting to a second and last part of a deal. The idea is that it's really similar from what we know to what we call the Whitkoff deal. So it's like two-stage deal. Now, that's what the Israeli side is trying to say now. The Israeli side is saying, and we hear that from sources close to the Israeli government,

they say we won't accept a partial deal anymore. We want an all-in deal, which means all the hostages, Israeli hostages held in Hamas, have to be released. But what we know is that this deal that is discussed right now, and everybody's waiting for the answer of the Israelis, is very similar, if not exactly almost the same as the Whitkoff deal. So it's a rhetoric kind of a point that the Israeli government is trying also for political inside reasons to communicate in that way.

The Israeli government has also said that it wants all of Hamas destroyed, and now we're seeing Gaza City under attack. I mean, it seems surreal to be talking about a ceasefire, when we know there have been increased attacks overnight. So what is the likelihood that the Israeli government do you think signs on to this? There is a conflict inside of the Israeli government. The Israeli cabinet has been authorizing a plan to take over Gaza City. That's how they define it.

They do not talk about occupation. They talk about taking over Gaza City because an official occupation would have a lot of consequences on the international low domain and more. But you have inside the Israeli government from Bessalonrich, which is the finance minister from the far right, he's not happy with this plan because he says that the plans leave the window to Hamas to say, okay, we'll have a deal. And then the Israeli government would back down and not get into Gaza City. Now, the operation is not done yet. It's not, it didn't start. We have a lot of communication of IDA saying that tents are going in so they can move the population. down south, that the army is getting around the city and ready to get inside.

But from the first point, the plan was validated by the Israeli cabinet. It was supposed to start on October 7th. It's a symbolic date, of course. By then, the government asked the army to already displace all of the population from Gaza, saying that whoever would stay would basically be Hamas members and not the civil population. Now, we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu ask the... the military, the IDF, a few times, to accelerate the plan and to start before the first date. But it's not on yet, and there is a lot of speculation and discussion also among the Israeli sphere

of do Prime Minister Netanyar really wants to go on with the plan, or what he wants is to pressure Hamas to accept a deal in the conditions that they can be the release of all the hostages? And then the government says it would be ready to stop the war, but only on the condition that not only the hostages are released by Hamas, but Hamas would put down his arms and would give up power in Gaza City. We are seeing the BBC reporting that Palestinians are fleeing parts of Gaza City because this Israeli military has begun the first stages of this ground offensive. But are you saying that is not happening, or that's your understanding? What we know from the IDF is that IDF is moving around, but it's not inside Gaza City as much as I know, and he's not starting already the operation as it has been validated. But there is also a sense and a movement and a communication that shows the citizens that they are going to be displaced. So I think that's one of the reasons that you can see some of the population inside Gaza that already goes south and already is moving.

And there are, now, when I say that there is a question about whether the Israeli government really wants to go and do the plan and take control of Gaza City, it doesn't mean it won't. It's not bluffing. It's moving. It's moving. It's doing, you know, some preparation. But it has also sent orders to reservists and soldiers to come back because they need around 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers for these kinds of. operations, not only inside Gaza City, but also around to also be inside the Gaza Strip. So all of the soldiers have not been called up yet.

So the operation is not on. What does Hamas hope to get out of this deal? Well, Hamas wants to survive. And Hamas, I think we have to say that very clearly also when we have this discussion, is that Hamas is the one who kidnapped these persons. And Hamas is the one who attacked on October 7th and took the hostages. killed some of them and still has 20 alive and 30 dead hostages under his control. So Hamas could actually resist the hostages.

Of course, he doesn't want to. Hamas is asking the end of the war, complete end of the war, the complete withdrawal of IDF from the Gaza Strip. And Hamas, from what we know, has agreed to give up power if there is another alternative Palestinian power in control. and also the reconstruction of Gaza, the Gaza Strip, buy money would come probably from the Gulf countries. But Hamas has not agreed until now to put down his arms,

although we've seen in New York from the French and Saudi initiative that all the Gulf countries, Arabic countries, the Arab League countries, the European Union countries, and more, have all signed up a document asking Hamas to not only give up power, but also to put down the arms. You know, there is a lot of people in Israel itself now who are upset that this war is continuing for a variety of reasons. We saw large protests over the weekend in Tel Aviv. 400,000 people were estimated to have been there.

Tell me a little bit about what the protesters' main concerns are. Is it the hostages or is there concern about the Palestinian people as well? It's mainly the hostages, of course. And actually, we've seen while we are speaking, you and me, there are families of hostages taking a march in. side of Israel, going to the border, and they are still active. It's not a one-day and one-time shot. It's, of course, not the same numbers, but you have every day something going on. The main concern is that the Israeli society wants to see the hostages home. Just before you go, what consequences do you believe Prime Minister and Benjamin Netanyahu

faces now, of course, as we've just talked about both domestically with the hostages, of course, people are angry, but also internationally. ceasefire fails, and the planned assault on Gaza City goes ahead. It's really hard to predict how it's going to happen, and we hope, of course, in Israel is not going to get to this point, but I have to add to that that is not only the fear of the hostages' life. There is also a real fear about soldiers. You know, the army is mandatory in Israel, so soldier, there is no separation between

civil life and soldiers and reservists that go to war. It's your neighbor. It's the guy that sells you the fruits or supermarkets. market, you know, the teacher of your children. And when you hear the chief of staff, General Eyalzamir, and we know from the security cabinet that he was against the plan. He will do what the political echelon is asking him to do, but he was against this plan, and he talked of a death trap from different reports.

Also for soldiers saying that would be very dangerous the way this plan should be conducted of Gaza City. So this is the first time you hear this kind of opposition from inside the army. And there would be, I think, and you can hear also more families of soldiers and soldiers that they are talking against this operation. They do not believe that military pressure will end the war and release the hostages right now. So I think if the deal would not go on and would not be agreed and accepted by the Israeli government and there is also a lot of reports of different occasions

where Israeli government maybe made the wrong decision and could have accepted a deal and didn't before different deals or similar deals, then there would be really, I think, bigger demonstrations. But right now, politically, Prime Minister is still safe and he hears the demonstrations, he watches them, he knows, of course, of everything. I'm not sure it's really pressuring him. The international community, as I'm just going to finish and say that as long as Prime Minister, he's backed up by the White House, he can go on with any plane he wants to.

Emmanuel Elbelle's Phelps, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you very much. Emmanuel Elbelle Phelps is an independent journalist based in Tel Aviv and the correspondent for Le Poin in Israel. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.