Ceasefire allows Regina woman’s Gaza family time to grieve

A new year provides some hope to a Regina woman and her family living in Gaza.

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced on Jan. 15.

Asmaa Olawan, who is from Palestine but lives in Regina, said the ceasefire announcement allows her family time to grieve their loved ones properly.

“I believe when they signed the ceasefire, they allowed their tears to be released,” she said. “They will find time to cry (for) their kids and to bury them where they (are) supposed to be.”

“(There are) many, many stories and many details in their life, like we cannot describe it by words because they are the ones who are living it minute by minute.”

One of Asmaa’s nieces. She said the children will need time to recover from growing up in the war. (Asmaa Olwan/submitted)

Israel declared war on Hamas after the militant group staged a brutal attack in October 2023 and kidnapped scores of hostages.

Gaza’s health ministry said more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the subsequent bombardment, most of them women and children. Israel said 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ initial attack. Both numbers include combatants.

Her family has mixed emotions about the ceasefire. They’re happy it has been announced but know they aren’t in the clear just yet.

“They are excited with caution because the attack is still going on aggressively because the actual ceasefire will start on Sunday
(Jan. 19),” Olawan said.

“They are still under the attack, and there are many people that were killed yesterday (Jan. 15).”

Olawan said most of her family are safe in Egypt, but three of her siblings still live in south Gaza. She said her family has relocated around 14 times during the war.

Some plan to return to their homes, even if only rubble remains — which is the case for her family.

She said some of her family members will never be the same.

Olawan said her 24-year-old niece used to be a bubbly young woman. But during the war, Olawan said her niece wished the bombs would hit her to end her suffering.

“This is how awful it was, these attacks and this genocide,” she said.

“They need many years to heal from this, many years. And their little kids who (are) suffering from all these sounds and fear and you know images that they can see everywhere around them, like bodies all over the grounds whenever they go.”

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Olawan did start a GoFundMe in an attempt to get her family out of Gaza. She successfully relocated her elderly mother and some of her siblings to Cairo, Egypt.

“The rest I couldn’t help them because they closed the borders and it was so expensive,” she said. “At least if this is (a) real ceasefire and they try to go back to normal again.”

She said it is too expensive to bring her nine siblings and their families to Canada.

Some of her family remain safe in Egypt but others do want to rebuild in Gaza, but they’ll have to start from scratch.

Olawan said 2024 was a hard year for her family. She wishes she could erase it from her memory. But she is hopeful for new beginnings in 2025.

“We are so excited, we are hoping that this year (will) carry much better things for us and for the people there,” she said.

“We’ll keep going.”

She said one positive thing from the war is more people learning about Palestine.

“They started to know about it more like it’s not like before,” she said. “The people are more educated about it, and they know more about it.”

The ceasefire agreement is set to begin in phases starting Sunday.

“I wish that the ceasefire will be actually started and they will respect the agreement and the people will restart their life again,” she said.

She thanks her Canadian friends who have supported her and her family over the last 15 months.

She wishes for peace for all.

— with files from The Canadian Press