(Ottawa) A glimmer of hope for the approximately 150 Canadians stuck in Gaza: a brief evacuation window could open at noon on Saturday, while a passage to Egypt would be open for five hours.
As a military offensive by the Jewish state, which has sworn to “eradicate” Hamas, approaches, the Canadian government has dangled a possible evacuation from the south of the Gaza Strip.
“We learned this morning that an opportunity could present itself tomorrow [samedi] to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing between noon and 5 p.m.,” said Julie Sunday, assistant deputy minister of consular services, during a technical briefing on Friday.
“We are in close contact with Egyptian and Israeli authorities to ensure that Canadian citizens and residents and their family members can leave,” she added. Like her colleagues at Global Affairs, she was very cautious in discussing the project.
Especially since the “total siege” imposed by the Israeli armed forces complicates logistics, noted Mme Sunday: “We face increasing challenges communicating with Canadians in the Gaza Strip, as there is no electricity and telecommunications are affected.”
Israel on Friday ordered the evacuation to the south of “all civilians” from Gaza City, a measure rejected by Hamas and condemned by the United Nations.
Canada evacuated 236 passengers from Tel Aviv airport on Thursday, and the same number of nationals are expected to have left for the day on Friday. In total, some 1,300 nationals caught in Israel have requested help to leave the country.
Air Canada cancels its flights
Air Canada announced Friday that it was canceling all direct flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of the month.
The suspension, which extends the one in force since October 8, comes after Hamas’ attack on Israel last weekend, which sparked retaliatory airstrikes and fears that the fighting could escalate into a regional war.
Canada’s largest airline says it is monitoring the conflict and will resume services from Toronto and Montreal when the situation stabilizes.
With The Canadian Press