Hundreds gather at Canadian Museum for Human Rights for Gaza: Stories of Grief, Resilience and Hope event

Hundreds gathered at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Saturday for Gaza: Stories of Grief, Resilience and Hope amidst the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. 

The event featured testimony from Winnipeggers feeling the impact of the months long war along with cultural displays and an appearance from the chief representative of the Palestinian Delegation to Canada.

"I want everyone to really try to put themselves in these people's shoes ... most of these people they can't find the remains of their family, they've been searching for months for the reamins of their family," said Hala Milhem, a university student who spoke about what her family has experienced since the war began. 

"They don't get to bury them, they don't get to say goodbye so I really just want people to try to empathise with them and realize that they're people just like you and me really." 

Milhem, whose family has extensive roots in Gaza, also showed videos of what her family members are going through during the war. 

One video showed her cousin under rubble after a bombing had just happened and talked about how she was pulled out, Milhem said. Milhem said another video shown was from the son of one of her cousins, who is now an orphan.

"We wanted people to see this is the reality these people are living with, they're not terrorists, they're going through something unimaginable," said Milhem. "So, I just wanted to share some of their pictures and videos so [attendees] could see what's going on, just a fraction of what's going on." 

Dresses put up to mourn Palestinian women killed in war

Rana Abdulla is the founder of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba and helped organize Saturday's event. Independent Jewish Voices Winnipeg was a co-sponsor, according to a media release. 

Abdulla said many people in Winnipeg have lost loved ones and are suffering. 

"It was very difficult that they were suffering alone, so we needed to unite efforts and stand shoulder to shoulder in support and healing," she said. 

Abdulla said the display of Palestinian dresses on display Saturday were collected by her mother. The dresses "without bodies," are a symbol of mourning for the thousands of Palestinian women killed in the months-long war, she said. 

"Those women are the ones who bake and who cook and who heal the wounded and and we pray for them." 

There was a tent memorial at the event that replicates refugee tents in Gaza, as well as maps and passports. 

Harold Shuster, a longtime organizer with the Winnipeg chapter of Independent Jewish Voices — a grassroots group that advocates for peace — says the organization was proud to co-sponsor the event.

Saturday's event at the museum was a critical moment for the institution, as museum CEO Isha Khan was among the hundreds gathered to hear from Palestinians directly, Shuster said.

"The event marked a significant turning point for the museum by making this important public space available to Palestinians, and to warmly welcome them to share their stories was huge," he said in a Sunday statement to CBC News.

'We are very late to taking actual action,' speaker says

The conflict began on Oct. 7, when Hamas sent fighters into Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 252 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's ground and air campaign has killed more than 31,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. 

The assault has also devastated the enclave's built environment, forcing nearly all of the inhabitants from their homes, leaving much of the territory in rubble and triggering a massive hunger crisis that has alarmed even Israel's allies. The United Nations says a third of children under 2 in north Gaza are acutely malnourished.

Mona Abuamara, the chief representative of the Palestinian Delegation to Canada, said she'd like to see countries like the U.S. step up. 

"Every day that passes is a another tragedy, this genocide in the making is continuous," she said. "We are very late to taking actual action."