'A devastating situation': Canadian woman loses 18 family members in Gaza, while others unreachable
CTV
A woman with family in the Gaza Strip says she doesn't know if she will see any of her relatives again as communication becomes limited due to a blackout there amid the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.
A woman with family in the Gaza Strip says she doesn't know if she will see any of her relatives again as communication becomes limited due to a blackout there amid the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.
"I've lost 18 family members so far and the number's only escalating," Riham Balousha, a resident of Mississauga, Ont., told CTV News Channel on Saturday.
She said the past two weeks have been very difficult, especially with the lack of communication with her loved ones.
A couple of days ago, Balousha said her grandfather was able to briefly call her mother to say he was still alive. There has been no such word from him since.
"So it's been a very devastating situation and what makes it a lot worse is we just don't know when it's going to end or if I'm ever going to be able to see any of my family members," she said.
Israeli bombardments have knocked out most communications in Gaza, The Associated Press reports. The Gaza Strip, with a population of 2.3 million people, has been under siege since Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
A Gaza Health Ministry spokesman told reporters that the communications disruptions have "totally paralyzed" the health network.
