Families of Canadians prevented from leaving Gaza

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OTTAWA — Canada's immigration minister is “disappointed” that a list of Canadians linked to the Gaza Strip has been banned from leaving, he said Wednesday.

Ottawa last month began accepting applications to reunite nearly 1,000 people from the Palestinian territories with extended family members in Canada.

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Canada has provided an initial list of pre-approved people to Israel and Egypt, which jointly control the only border crossing out of Gaza.

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Immigration Minister Mark Miller said on Parliament Hill: “There are probably concerns about whether these people should be deported, but this is a humanitarian gesture and I am deeply saddened by it.”

Miller has previously said he is willing to be flexible about the number of people who can access the program.

But he told the House of Commons on Tuesday it was “very difficult” to expand the program if no one could cross the border.

The minister said he was considering diplomatic options and wanted to explore them before speaking publicly.

“I don't want to create a system that creates false hope, but I also don't want to give up and not try,” Miller said.

“It's really upsetting and obviously it's a matter of life and death for the families.”

If people on the government's list can make it across the border, they still have to be screened before being allowed to board a flight to Canada.

Miller's office would not say when the list was given to officials or how many people were named on it.

The Gaza Strip has been under constant bombardment since the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas began in early October, and humanitarian supplies have been severely limited.

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Officials in the Hamas-controlled area have reported that more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past four months.

On October 7, Israel declared war on Hamas after its militants invaded the country, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

Nearly 85 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced by the conflict, with many now congregating in the area just outside the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

More than a million people flocked to Rafah and its surrounding areas after Israel ordered civilians to seek shelter.

Foreign nationals, including Canadians, were able to leave the besieged territory through this heavily guarded border.

But for Palestinians without foreign citizenship, the road is more difficult.

Since the start of the war, Egypt has resisted calls for a mass exodus of Palestinians.

He fears Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza and says he does not want to support ethnic cleansing.

He also warned that militants from Gaza would enter Sinai with defectors, bringing the possibility of cross-border exchanges with Israel.

With Associated Press files.

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