Canada plans to airlift citizens from Israel by end of week

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says the federal government will begin to airlift Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families from Tel Aviv by the end of the week.

Speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday morning, Joly would not confirm whether any Canadians are being held hostage in Gaza, but she says three Canadians have died in the violence in the region.

“i will not confirmed whether Canada has any hostages because I don’t why to put their lives in danger,” Joly said. “We have been in contact with the chief negotiator of hostages in Israel. Canada will be sending a team of experts to support him and his team.”

She says Canadian Armed Forces flights to Athens will be arranged in the coming days and the government will help arrange flights to Canada.

“We have secured, with Air Canada, a plane and a crew to bring Canadians home from Athens,” says Joly.

Chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre says the first Polaris plane will land in Athens later Wednesday and the Air Force will run a shuttle service.

As of Tuesday, Joly says there were 4,249 Canadians registered in Israel and another 476 in the West Bank and Gaza.

She says Canada will work with the United Nations if there is an evacuation from Gaza but so far there are no such plans.

Global Affairs has urged Canadians in the region to limit their movements.

Israel is hammering Gaza in retaliation for a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israeli soil on Saturday, with fighting causing the deaths of at least 1,800 people so far. Friends and family have confirmed to The Canadian Press the deaths of two Canadians, 22-year-old Ben Mizrachi from Vancouver and 33-year-old Alexandre Look from Montreal, who died when gunman swarmed a music festival in southern Israel.

Some Canadians have been pleading for help to get their loved ones out of the Hamas-controlled territory as Israel closes off access.

In what the Israeli government is describing as a total siege, the entry of food, fuel and medicines into Gaza has been halted, with aid organizations sounding the alarm.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Conservative party had urged the federal Liberals to help Canadians in Israel, accusing the government of “consular and diplomatic failures.”

A statement from the party’s foreign-affairs critic, Michael Chong, said members of Parliament were hearing “too many stories” from Canadians who were reaching out for assistance but getting no answers.

Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have signalled their staunch support for Israel, condemning the Hamas attack that initiated hostilities on the weekend.