Two Palestinian sisters in Newfoundland are among families across Canada seeking a limited number of special visas in hopes of saving their loved ones from the war between Israel and Hamas.

Marleen and Miran Kaskin said their younger brothers, Talal, 20, and Fahd, 21, share a tent in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. They have no water, food, toilets, electricity, or internet.

They were living in Gaza City when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people. Almost immediately, Israel responded with near-continuous bombardment across the Palestinian territories. Marleen Kaskin said in an interview in St. John's, Newfoundland, that the brothers hid bombs in basements and stayed close to destroyed buildings and bodies during their journey to Rafah.

To talk to her brothers and make sure they were still alive, Marleen said she needed to contact a friend in the West Bank who could make a local call in an attempt to reach them if they managed to find electricity to recharge their phones.

The sisters also said that since the war began, their uncle was killed and their grandparents had to stay in Gaza City because they were too old and weak to be evacuated. They have not heard from their mother for a week and do not know if she is still alive.

Details coming Tuesday...

The extended family program for Gaza residents is scheduled to launch Tuesday. This comes after months of pleas from Palestinian Canadians to the federal government to help save their loved ones.

The Kaskin sisters hired an immigration lawyer through an online fundraising campaign. Marleen said the lawyer will spend Tuesday morning updating the application online with the ready documents, awaiting the first opportunity to submit it.

More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, about two-thirds of them women and children, and more than 58,000 have been injured since the war began, according to local health authorities in the Hamas-controlled territories.

The program offers entry visas for up to 1,000 people along with their extended family members in Canada. This would allow them to seek asylum in Canada for three years, if their families are prepared to support them financially during this period.

The extended program will include a limited number of parents, grandparents, adult children, grandchildren, and siblings of Canadians and permanent residents in Canada, in addition to their immediate family members.

Criticism of the program cap...

The Canadian Muslim Council criticized the maximum number of applicants at 1,000 people and said it has already been in touch with more than a thousand people trying to evacuate their families from Gaza.

Marleen Kaskin echoed these frustrations, noting that Ottawa has welcomed over 210,000 Ukrainians who fled Russian attacks on their country since 2022.

She said this means the lives of the Palestinian people do not matter.