Montreal, Canada – Palestinian families sued the Canadian government to delay in Issuing visas It means allowing them to escape from the deadly war of Israel in Gaza and receive temporary protection in Canada.

The lawsuit was submitted in the Federal Court in Canada this month, on behalf of 53 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with family members in Canada, and claiming that the country’s special visa program has been calmly afflicted.

Hana Marco, a lawyer in Toronto, who represents families, said all of her clients presented a model that expresses his interest in visas during the first month of the launch of the plan in January 2024.

However, none of them received the unique reference symbols needed to move to the next stage of the operation, which is to submit Canadian visa requests to its relatives.

This prolonged delay left their relatives in Gaza open to “life and inhumane conditions” in the Palestinian territories, where Israel bombed cities, neighborhoods and refugee camps for 15 months.

Marco told Al -Jazeera: “There is no rhyme or reason for how to put the symbols, and the fact that there is no transparency here – it is emotional torture, frankly,” Marco told Al -Jazeera.

“It is an emotional torture Canadian family members Those who made Mali to believe that this would create an opportunity to get their loved ones out of Gaza. “

Canada launched the Gaza visa program on January 9, 2024, a few months after Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian coastal pocket.

The scheme allowed Canadian citizens and permanent residents to apply to apply for a request to bring the family members from Gaza to the country in the center of the country War. If approved, successful applicants will receive a temporary accommodation for up to three years.

But from the beginning, families and immigration lawyer said that the operation was confusing The gas questions included This has exceeded what is usually required, including inquiries about any scars or injuries that require medical attention.

They also said that Canada does not explain why some Palestinian families meet symbols to submit their requests while not others.

A spokesman for immigration, refugees and citizenship in Canada (IRCC)-the Ministry of Federal Immigration-on the island that it had been a “large size” of the application operations in the first stage and that the treatment times differ according to each case.

As of January 28, the government accepted 4,873 Gaza visa requests for treatment.

By the same date, 1093 people who left Gaza were approved without any assistance from the Canadian authorities to come to Canada. From that, 645 people arrived in the country.

The program will be closed as soon as 5,000 requests arrive at the treatment stage or at the date of final cutting on April 22.

“The movement from Gaza is still very difficult due to the factors that come out of Canada’s control. “This is still the main problem with the speed that we can handle requests from gas,” said IRCC spokesman.

But Marko, Toronto’s lawyer, said that her customers are not asking for help in leaving Gaza or a positive decision regarding the visa requests for their relatives; They just want the opportunity to allow her to submit applications.

She said: “They cannot continue the next step in this process – they cannot even fill in the application forms – without giving unique reference symbols,” she said.

“We are only asking an order from the Federal Court to compel the federal government to give these people unique reference symbols. This is what we had to charge.”

When asked about the lawsuit, IRCC told Al -Jazeera that the government could not comment on specific issues due to privacy concerns.

One of the prosecutors in Canada in the lawsuit, who spoke to the island, said, provided that his identity was not disclosed due to the fear of revenge, that the visa plan was “designed” to failure and not evacuating people “from Gaza.

The person said of the Canadian government: “They are not serious about this process.” “They do not have a regulatory system. It’s just a bad system. You have to discover things yourself, it is meaningless.”

The relatives that the plaintiff were hoping to bring to Canada in Gaza, which Shattered.

A total of 4,8319 Palestinians was confirmed, although the Government Information Office in Gaza said that the total may reach 61709, given the bodies that have not yet been found under the rubble.

A cease-fire Between Israel and Hamas, which was implemented last month, it provided a brief postponement of large -scale bombings, but the pocket is in ruin, and the Palestinians face a terrible humanitarian crisis, with a lack of food and other basic supplies.

The prosecutor said that watching the destruction from afar while he was struggling to reach Canadian visas had affected a mental ancient. “I never … in my whole life [had] To try such a thing, he adds such. “

Meanwhile, Marco said that the lawyers are “working around the clock” to try to receive the application codes before the program was closed in April.

The Canadian government has 30 days from when the lawsuit was filed on February 6 to file its response, and Marco said that her team hopes that the Federal Court will agree to their arguments on an urgent basis.

“Leaving people in a state of forgetfulness is worse than their rejection,” Marco told Al Jazerera. “In this case, it is cruel to do this for people.”