The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, finds it “unacceptable” that the work of the United Nations in favor of Palestinian civilians risks being stopped from Wednesday due to a lack of fuel in the Gaza Strip.
The minister says civilians must be protected and enough food, fuel and water must reach Gaza for the UN’s humanitarian work to continue.
Mme Joly did not specifically name Israel in his “comments on the current situation in the Middle East” published Monday evening on X (formerly Twitter).
Israel declared war on Hamas after its attacks in Israel against civilians on October 7, which left 1,200 people dead. Weeks of retaliatory airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have since killed thousands of people in the territory.
On Tuesday, many Canadians were still hoping to leave the Gaza Strip, a besieged territory where, according to the UN, nowhere can you be safe.
But no Canadians were on Tuesday’s list of potential evacuees allowed to cross the tightly controlled Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.
Global Affairs Canada said Monday afternoon that it was in contact with more than 250 Canadians, permanent residents and their family members in the war-torn Palestinian territory. Ottawa says 356 Canadians and their loved ones have managed to leave the Gaza Strip so far, including 10 on Monday.
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