“The suffering is behind us”

(Quebec) At Jean-Lesage Airport, the scene is moving. For the first time in 10 months, Zakaria Helles, a Palestinian who arrived in Quebec in August 2023, hugs his wife and children for several minutes. Tears well up in his eyes. He is not the only one crying. His children also shed tears of relief; they can finally hold their father in their arms, safe from the bombs and hunger that have haunted their daily lives for nearly eight months.

Zakaria’s wife, Islam Helles, is exhausted. Traveling with five children ranging in age from 18 months to 11 years, her day’s flight from Cairo to Quebec City was not easy.

“Al-hamdu li-l-lāh [que Dieu soit loué] ” she said with a sigh when she saw her husband, before throwing herself into his arms.

It is June 24 in Quebec City. To the applause of about thirty relatives wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian headscarves, the Helles family receives several gifts, including a poster on which the flags of Quebec and Palestine and the words “Welcome” in Arabic have been painted.

“It’s a celebration! The months of suffering are behind us,” exclaims Mr. Helles, who arrived in Quebec as a visiting researcher from Laval University. His status has since been extended.

“It was the first time I was separated from my wife since we met in 2010,” said the 43-year-old, who holds a PhD in civil and water engineering. He was due to return to Gaza three months later, on November 11. The war decided otherwise.

Suffering and uncertainty

The conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, disrupting the professor’s stay and his hope of reuniting with his family overnight, since it was now impossible for him to return home.

“That morning was the worst awakening of my life. I opened my phone to hundreds of distress messages from my wife, my children, my mother. They were talking about bombs and missiles, I was in shock. I turned on the TV and realized that it was the beginning of a war.”

The same day, he learns that his wife has left their house at the last minute with Razan, their 18-month-old baby, in her arms, their four other children – Hishan, 4, Liam, 6, Mira, 9, and Mariam, 11 – and his mother.

The family home in Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, was completely razed on October 10. This is the second time in 10 years that the Helles family has lost everything to Israeli bombing.

“All our possessions were in our house, our diplomas, our papers, our clothes and our savings,” said Mr. Helles, acknowledging that his family had found temporary refuge in Gaza City.

Since the beginning of the war, more than 1 million Palestinians have been forced to move across the Gaza Strip, fleeing the constant bombardment by the Israeli army. Zakaria’s family is no exception. From Gaza City, they fled to Khan Younis, then to Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory, only to return to the center a few months later.

“Gaza became a black hole of suffering with few resources to survive. They were not safe anywhere,” laments the father, who maintained tenuous contact with his relatives stuck there.

Escape from Gaza, but at what cost?

Not just anyone can leave Gaza. In response to the attacks of October 7th orchestrated by Hamas, the Israeli authorities have closed their border with the Gaza Strip. Until recently, the only way to leave the Palestinian territory was by crossing to the Egyptian border through the Rafah crossing.

This is the path that Zakaria Helles’ family took, a week before Israeli troops took control of Rafah and also closed this passageway on May 7.

“I heard that they arrived in Egypt on the 1st^er But I was really relieved to know they were finally safe, away from the destruction that surrounded them there,” he says.

To cross the border, Zakaria’s family used the services of Hala Consulting and Tourism, which officially advertises itself as an Egyptian travel agency, but which acts as a “smuggling agency,” explains Olivier Arsivais, a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and an expert in humanitarian crises.

Before the war, this agency offered trips to Egypt for residents of the Gaza Strip. Now, Hala is responsible for evacuating Palestinians by registering their names on the Egyptian evacuation list.

But his services come at a cost.

“We’re talking about $5,000 per person, which has to be handed over in cash to the agency’s office in Egypt,” explains Nora Loreto, an independent journalist and activist from Quebec City who participated in the evacuation of the Helles family.

M^me Loreto befriended Zakaria Helles in November 2023 at a pro-Palestinian protest. “When my partner and I met Zakaria, we thought he was a very nice guy. We wanted to know what we could do to help him right away.”

On March 21, Nora Loreto launched a crowdfunding campaign on the digital platform GoFundMe that aimed to raise $40,000 to pay for the services of the travel agency Hala.

“At the beginning of April, we were afraid that the Israeli army would decide at any moment to attack Rafah and close the border. Time was pressing, we had to act quickly,” says Nora Loreto.

Without waiting for the goal to be reached, she and her partner decided to take the situation into their own hands and pay out of their own pockets the amount needed for Zakaria Helles’ wife, his five children, his younger brother and his mother to cross the Egyptian border and leave the war zone once and for all.

“We may never get that money back, and we’re at peace with that.”

At the time of publication, the prize pool had reached $27,000.

“I want to give back to the community”

Since June 24, the family has been living in a friend’s house in Quebec City. Relatives helped them find an apartment where everyone can move in starting July 7. The Helles have also received several donations of food, furniture and clothing, and the children will be able to return to school in the fall.

“I fell in love with Quebec City, and I want to give back to the community that has offered me invaluable support,” says Mr. Helles, whose visa has been extended, allowing him to stay for two years.

“The suffering is behind us and we are ready to start our new life.”