Over the past few weeks, Ahmed Abu Al-Jadyan has been in Brantford, Ontario, preparing to hear the news of the death of his wife and daughter, who was born in the waiting room of a crowded children's hospital in Gaza.

After communications were cut off in the besieged area, he was unable to contact them for several consecutive days. His wife Yara Abu Al-Jadyan gave birth to her baby in the city of Jabalia on October 23, in a hospital without electricity and no anesthesia. Now, he said, she and the whole family finally feel some relief.

On Friday morning, Ahmed, a Canadian permanent resident in Canada, stood in the arrivals area at Pearson International Airport holding a bouquet of flowers pressed to his chest, with the Canadian flag protruding among the leaves, and for the first time in either country. Their lives, he touched his infant daughter. Ahmed said: "I don't know what to say, but I finally got my dream."

After it was initially said that Global Affairs Canada could not assist the family, Ahmed's wife and daughter, named Sila, were eventually transferred to the Canadian embassy in Cairo before traveling to Toronto.

Yara and Sila are among the Canadians and family members who managed to leave Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7.

Amid the pain the fighting has brought to thousands of families - Ahmed lost his sister and cousins during the war - he said on Friday he wants to focus on happiness.

Yara and Sila also received temporary permanent residency in Canada. To help build their lives here, Ahmed is looking for work so he can support them, but this has proven difficult due to his poor eyesight, according to friends who were with him at the airport.

Yara said, through Ahmed as a translator, that the feeling of being in Canada is indescribable.

"Running from place to place"...

Yara described the horror of living in Gaza during the Israeli bombing, where she was worried about her life, worried about the birth, then worried about her daughter.

Ahmed, translating for Yara, said: "We were just running, running from place to place to be safe."