My name is Nariman Ajjur. I am a Palestinian mother living in Canada and the aunt of Khalid, a three-year-old boy in Gaza who was orphaned and injured in an Israeli airstrike. On October 19, 2023, an airstrike killed his father — my brother Mohammed — and seven members of his mother’s family, including her father and four brothers.

Khalid and his mother Ezdehar were pulled from the rubble with physical injuries and shattered hearts. Khalid is traumatized, malnourished, and experiencing speech delays. He no longer smiles and often screams in fear. His mother, who sustained injuries in the same attack, is still waiting for surgery and proper medical treatment. They both need urgent evacuation and care before their situation worsens.

Khalid has spent most of his life under bombs , siege and displaced between tents and a small overcrowded apartment in Rafah, trying to survive relentless airstrikes, starvation, and grief.

I applied to bring Khalid, his mother, my elderly parents, and my siblings to safety in Canada through the Special Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) Program for Gaza, announced in December 2023. I submitted everything requested, including a temporary death certificate obtained in a war zone. All of them have been deemed eligible and have passed every stage of the application process, including background checks. And yet — more than 17 months later — none of them have been evacuated.

Despite repeated communication with both IRCC and Global Affairs Canada, I have received no clear support or resolution. I am living a constant nightmare of losing more members of my family — like so many other Palestinian Canadians already have while they are waiting Canada to act.

That’s why I, along with other Gazan Canadians, am organizing a sit-in at the IRCC office in Vancouver starting July 15. Similar actions will take place across Canada. We are taking this step because we’ve exhausted every other option — emails, calls, meetings, press conferences — and the Canadian government has not responded with action.

We demand:

1. Immediate evacuation of Khalid and his mother Ezdehar under the TRV program — before his condition worsens.

2. Faster processing and evacuation for families who are already approved, including my parents and siblings.

3. Recognition of Gaza’s war conditions, which make it nearly impossible to produce formal documents like death certificates.

Khalid cannot wait any longer.
Please join me in calling on the Canadian government to act before it’s too late.

With urgency and heartbreak,
Nariman Ajjur
(Khalid’s Aunt)