His 1st trip to Gaza in 56 years ended in a harrowing escape to Egypt

An Ottawa man stuck in Gaza during the latest Israel-Hamas war is finally ending his month-long saga to return to Canada.

On Tuesday, the first group of Canadians were able to make their way across the Rafah border into Egypt.

Hany Elbatnigi was one of them.

The 71-year-old returned to Gaza in mid-September to visit family and help sell a piece of property. It was his first time back since 1967 when he was 15.

When the bombing began after the Oct. 7 cross-border raid by Hamas, he became trapped alongside hundreds of other Canadians in the area that had, before the war, 2.3 million people.

"The third day, we start to hear the missiles come near us … So [my brother] said 'No, there's no chance to stay here. We have to move,'" Elbatnigi told CBC News from a hotel room in Cairo.

The Current19:52Families terrified for Canadians still stuck in Gaza

The first Canadians were able to leave Gaza on Tuesday, but many more are still awaiting evacuation assistance from Global Affairs Canada. Matt Galloway speaks with a man who made it across the border and an Ontario woman whose elderly father is still in northern Gaza, as Israel’s airstrikes continue.

That led to a harrowing journey through Gaza: moving from place to place every few days with family, including one time when they were given mere minutes to grab whatever they could carry and run.

"I don't have time to to wear shoes, so I [was] running barefoot in the street," he said. "I left seven places from day one until I went to the Rafah border."

The horrors of what he's witnessed throughout the conflict continue to haunt him — from rubble from bombed buildings to bodies laying in the streets.

"You smell the dead around you. You see the blood," Elbatnigi said.

The Hamas attacks on southern Israel killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and resulted in 240 people taken hostage, according to statistics from Israeli officials.

Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza residents had been killed as of Thursday, about 40 per cent of them children, in air and artillery strikes.

Deadly airstrikes on refugee camps, a medical convoy and near hospitals have prompted fierce arguments among some of Israel's Western allies over its military's adherence to international law.

Israel says Hamas militants have hidden command centres and tunnels beneath schools, hospitals and mosques.

A family's relief

In the week leading up to when he found his name posted at the border — his ticket out — Elbatnigi made the  treacherous trek to the crossing almost daily.

Over five days, he travelled by taxi, making his way through the streets to travel to the border only to find Canadians and permanent residents weren't being allowed out.

WATCH l Hopelessness, uncertainty pervade for the displaced in Gaza:

Displaced Gazans live in fear with virtually nothing

1 year ago

Duration 1:46

Rows upon rows of tents populate a makeshift encampment in Khan Younis, Gaza, where families whose lives have been disrupted by the Israel-Hamas war have fled and wait for aid. Many struggle for food and clean water, with one man saying on Thursday he is living 'by the hour ... not even by the day, but by the hour.'

His daughter Nour Elbatnigi described the uncertainty of whether her father's name would be on the list.

"My dad had gone to the Rafah border and he had called me pretty much being like 'I can't go back. I just risked my life. There's bombing all over,'" she said.

His wife and four children in Ottawa have been awaiting his return.

Their relief knowing Hany made it out of Gaza can be seen on their faces as they talk to him through a computer screen — one of the last times before being able to see him again in person.

"I love you," Nour tells her dad, while blowing kisses. A big smile comes across her face.

Her smile is short-lived as she recounts the weeks of frustration and fear, making multiple phone calls a day to Global Affairs Canada hoping to help get her father out of the battle-torn region.

WATCH | The work from Canada to get Hany out:

She called Global Affairs Canada every day to try and get her father out of Gaza

1 year ago

Duration 0:52

Nour Elbatnigi said she called Global Affairs Canada every day for weeks trying to get her father, Hany Elbatnigi, out of Gaza. Her father was finally able to escape across the Rafah border on Nov. 6, but she said the process has left her family frustrated and questioning why it’s taking so long to get Canadians to safety.

"It was just messy and confusing and we were just in the dark most of the time as well," she said, adding that witnessing people being able to leave Israel left them with more questions.

"It left our family wondering when's our turn?" she said. "We didn't know when was going to be the next time we were going to see [our father]."

"My husband and too many people [were] stuck in Gaza. We [were] scared about that," said Elbatnigi's wife, Kholoud Rabah.

That moment he crossed into Egypt, Hany said he felt a weight lifted.

"I feel that I [was] born again," he said.

After a few days in Egypt, he's since begun the last leg of his journey from Cairo to Morocco and is expected to land in Montreal Friday evening.

Without hesitation, another daughter knows exactly what she'll do when her father finally walks through the door of their Kanata home.

"Hug him. I'm going to get up and hug him," Ayah Elbatnigi said with a big smile on her face.