Gazan students stuck in limbo

Last year, the University of Regina offered admittance and full scholarship to Meera, a 25-year-old Palestinian living in Gaza City, to pursue a master’s degree in industrial systems engineering. She planned to focus on enhancing the food-supply chain to help avoid famines — an on-the-ground reality for Gazans like her, who face starvation as a result of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas on the Gaza Strip. 

But since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, Meera has been stuck in Gaza, where she has endured daily bombings from Israeli forces that have resulted in the deaths of 100 of her friends and family members, she said. A lack of food is claiming the lives of even more Palestinians due to starvation and malnutrition. 

“My dream is to study in Canada because I have a good network and relationship with colleagues in Canada,” she said. 

“I want to not feel anger or fear,” Meera added, noting that Israel’s assault is “crushing” the 2.1 million people densely packed into the 365-square-kilometre Gaza Strip “who just want to live.” 

University Affairs agreed to use students’ first names only in this article because of safety concerns for them and their families in Gaza. 

Although she began the process of applying for a student visa to come to Canada last July, Meera has been unable to complete the required security clearance by providing such biometric information as fingerprints through a process administered by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The process is unavailable in Gaza, where an IRCC spokesperson told University Affairs that it “has no presence.” 

Security screenings are being provided by private contractors in neighbouring Egypt. But the border crossing at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has been closed since May 2024, when Israel seized control of it.  

Meantime, Meera is stuck in limbo — and trying to survive. 

Students risk losing not only their opportunities, but their lives 

The nonprofit Canadian-based organization Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk (PSSAR) told University Affairs in a statement that Meera is among approximately 70 graduate students who were admitted to 20 Canadian universities with full scholarships in such postgraduate programs as cancer research, artificial intelligence and environmental engineering, but who are unable to take up their offers of admittance because of severe visa delays. 

PSSAR noted that all 12 of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed, and that the delays Gazan students are facing “have nothing to do with” the IRCC’s international student cap announced last year. 

“They were selected based on academic merit and humanitarian need.”  

Meera explained that since the war began, she has been forced to find refuge 11 times following evacuation orders from Israeli forces as they expanded their military offensive from northern Gaza to the south. In January, Meera lived on the street in a tent that she shared with other relatives, including her grandmother, who did not survive the harsh, cold conditions. 

She said Gazans are not only at risk from bombings and shelling “that never stop,” but also from starvation. Eighty percent of the farms have been destroyed. Whatever food is available comes at a price unaffordable for most Palestinians, who are unemployed and living in poverty.  

Between May 27 and July 21, more than 1,000 people in Gaza were killed while trying to access food, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization. 

“Nobody can believe what’s happening,” said Meera, who is working for Oxfam International as a monitor for the distribution of aid in Gaza. She is the sole income earner for the 10 family members with whom she lives in a tiny 6.5-square-metre home. 

Meera — who holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza, where she also worked as a teaching assistant — said that she wants to come to Canada because it’s a country that has long welcomed international students and is known for its “equity and inclusiveness.” (The university is now functioning as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war) 

IRCC cites lack of security screening for unissued visas 

Regarding the situation in Gaza, IRCC senior communications advisor Rémi Larivière said in a statement to University Affairs: “We understand that some students, including those with acceptance letters from Canadian institutions, have been experiencing increased processing times for their study permit applications.” 

In order to obtain a study permit, prospective students must pass security screening. But, Larivière stated: “As security screenings are conducted by agencies outside of IRCC, we are unable to provide average processing time. Ensuring the safety of Canadians remains our priority; these checks are mandatory for all applicants before they can travel to Canada to help prevent individuals who pose a threat to the health, safety or security of Canadians from entering Canada. Biometrics can only be completed after people leave Gaza, as IRCC has no presence there.” 

Meera said that while Canada is “making things more complicated for Gazan people,” other countries, such as France, Italy and Ireland, have helped Palestinian students to “achieve their dreams and to get them out of the genocide that is getting worse day by day.” 

“We are not only at risk of losing our opportunity but are also at risk of losing our lives,” she said. 

Israel rejects the charge of genocide and blames the war on Hamas, which conducted a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Some of the hostages have been killed or released, while others remain in captivity in Gaza. 

France helps students escape war zone 

Ehab, a fellow Gazan, found a different academic opportunity thanks to France. 

The 27-year-old native of Gaza City is a graduate of the Islamic University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in medical devices engineering with the second-highest standing in his program.  He was accepted in January by the University of Alberta in Edmonton to pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. 

The following month, Ehab applied for a student visa to come to Canada. But, like Meera, he was unable to obtain the requisite biometrics. So, in June, Ehab turned to France, where he was accepted by Centrale Méditerranée — a university in Marseille — as a graduate student in biomedical engineering.  

On July 9, an immigration official with the French consulate-general in Jerusalem accompanied him to Jordan for biometrics tests, Ehab said, and within three days he received a student visa from France. The French government covered his travel expenses to Marseille and is paying for his university tuition and accommodations under a full government scholarship. 

He said that he is one of 35 Gazans who have been accepted into France to pursue their graduate studies, and more have applied. 

Ehab begins his program in September. However, he told University Affairs that he would have preferred to study in Canada, which he characterized as a country that provides a “good education” in a “safe environment,” and where he could study in English, since he only speaks French “a little.” Ehab said that when he reached out to IRCC about the status of his student-visa application, he was told to “wait.”  

Should Ehab eventually gain admission to Canada, he said that he would consider splitting his master’s program to study in both France and Alberta. 

“My dream is to finish my master’s degree and have my family proud of me and show the world that a Palestinian student can obtain a [higher] education,” said Ehab, who added that he wants to return to Gaza and help rebuild his alma mater.