Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

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For Khaled and Raneen, daily life in the Gaza Strip is marked by the steady hum of Israeli military drones buzzing over the central city of Deir al-Balah that they now call home.

The Palestinian couple from northern Gaza has been displaced more than 10 times since Israel’s war on the enclave began in 2023.

And despite a United States-brokered ceasefire that was enacted in October, they say a sense of safety continues to be out of reach.

“There are bombings around us,” Khaled told Truthout in a recent phone interview, describing the hardships of living in a tent with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter. “There is no internet access, no electricity. The basic necessities are not available. We are struggling to live,” he said.

Khaled and Raneen say their situation, though shared with hundreds of thousands of other displaced Palestinians across Gaza, is even more frustrating because they both have been accepted into a Canadian university to continue their studies in medicine.

For Gaza’s Students, International Scholarships Offer Both Hope and Heartbreak

Raneen has gained admission into a nursing Ph.D. program and Khaled has been invited to complete a research fellowship in the cardiology department, both at Western University in the Canadian province of Ontario.

But without a way to leave Gaza, which is under a brutal Israeli blockade, or the ability to complete their visa applications due to those restrictions on their freedom of movement, the couple has been forced to defer their admissions over and over again.

“Waiting [for] our dreams, it’s really difficult,” said 28-year-old Khaled.

The pair are among more than 130 Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip who have been accepted into Canadian universities yet have been unable to finalize their visas and travel to Canada to begin their studies, according to a local nonprofit group, the Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk network (PSSAR).

Most of the students remain stuck in Gaza, where continued Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 Palestinians since the October ceasefire came into effect, the latest figures from the Palestinian health ministry show.

“I feel shame, for asking for a deferral from my professor every semester,” said 27-year-old Raneen, who, like her husband Khaled, spoke to Truthout on condition that their last names not be used due to safety concerns.

“We graduated from our faculties with excellence. We got the opportunity to complete our studies in Canada. We applied for our visa[s] … We gathered the documents during the hardest times,” Khaled added. “We [can] do nothing, just waiting.”

“I Don’t Know What to Say”

Nada El-Falou is director of student services at PSSAR, the Canada-based group that has been advocating on behalf of the students stuck in Gaza.

She said some of them have been waiting for their Canadian visas for more than 20 months, often at great personal risk.

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