‘I feel that I’m born again’: Canadian describes journey out of Gaza through Rafah border crossing

Hany Elbatnigi left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt on Wednesday with overwhelming feelings of both joy and heartbreak knowing what he’s leaving behind.

“I feel that I’m born again,” Elbatnigi said in an interview with CTV News Channel from a hotel room in Egypt Wednesday morning.

Elbatnigi is one of the 75 Canadians who have now successfully left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

He said he’s grateful to have been among the lucky group of foreign nationals to have been given the green light to leave, but said he can’t help but worry for everyone else left behind in Gaza, including the few hundred Canadians who remained there as of Wednesday afternoon.

Global Affairs Canada has said the government is unable to determine when or how many people can cross each day and the situation is fluid and unpredictable. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the Rafah border crossing was closed later in the day due to an unspecified “security circumstance,” but was expected to reopen at “regular intervals” to allow aid into the Gaza Strip and foreign nationals to depart.

“I can’t understand the situation there. It’s really, really terrible,” Elbatnigi said, holding back tears as he described scenes of people frequently being killed and buildings getting bombed in Gaza.

“Believe it or not, when you walk in the streets, you smell bodies killed. I see dogs eating flesh of human beings.”

The Palestinian Canadian said he had been aching to come home to Canada to see his family once again, including his 12-year-old son, who he said has been shedding tears every day that his father was stuck in the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Elbatnigi moved from Palestine to Canada during the war in 1967. He recently returned to his home country to sell some land in Gaza his father had given him.

But little did he know his return would coincide with the start of a war between Israel and Hamas, which the Canadian government has designated a terrorist group.

Elbatnigi said part of his family home collapsed when Israel started launching a bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the Hamas surprise attack on Oct. 7. Since then, he had to move to five different locations to escape the violence.

“We escaped to a different place by car,” he said. “Even in the car, it was very hard to drive because every 100 metres, we had a bombing and a house in the ground. And we have to move from street to street.”

Whenever he sought refuge, Elbatnigi said he and other civilians would go out during the day searching for food in order to survive. As for water in Gaza, he said there is no fresh water and that they would boil salty water to ensure it was safe for drinking.

“There’s no clothes, no water, no electricity, no nothing,” he said. “I spent three days without food, without water.”

Before crossing the Egyptian border on Wednesday morning, Elbatnigi said he witnessed a building get bombed in front of him, which caused pressure in his ear and for his ear to bleed. He said he described this to a woman at the border, who made sure that a paramedic came to see him.

From there, he said he boarded a bus that took him to the hotel room in Egypt where he was staying on Wednesday.

“I’m happy to go out” of Gaza, Elbatnigi said.

When asked if he expects to ever be able to return to Gaza, Elbatnigi said he did not.

“I have sisters, I have brothers there,” he said, tearing up.

Elbatnigi said he’s planning to fly back home to reunite with his family in Canada on Friday.

With files from the Canadian Press and Reuters