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Israel news: Hundreds of Canadians did not leave Gaza – CTV News

Published

10 months ago

November 11, 2023

OTTAWA –

Global Affairs Canada says none of the 266 Canadians on Friday’s list of foreign nationals approved to leave the Gaza Strip were able to get out.

“The Rafah border crossing was closed today,” the department wrote in a Friday afternoon statement. “No foreign nationals crossed.”

Early Friday, 266 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their family members appeared on the daily list of foreigners approved to exit for Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. That list is posted by Palestinian authorities and co-ordinated with the Egyptian and Israeli governments.

“Canadians who were at the border today for crossing were contacted, and we are hopeful the border will reopen soon to allow them to cross,” the department wrote.

Amro Abumiddain, a Canadian citizen who already left Gaza this week, said his relatives waited all day in the hopes of reaching safety.

“They were told (Thursday) that they should be heading to the border today, because their name appeared on the list and they went in the morning,” Abumiddain told The Canadian Press from Cairo on Friday.

“They spent the whole day waiting and then at the end of the day, they told them, ‘Just go home because they’re not going to let anyone in.'”

A total of 107 people with connections to Canada crossed on Tuesday and Thursday, though the crossing was closed Wednesday because of what a U.S. State Department spokesperson described as a “security circumstance.”

Some of those Canadians have since reached Canada, while others remain in Cairo; Egypt allows foreigners to stay 72 hours in the country.

Global Affairs says it’s aware of 550 Canadians, permanent residents, and family members who are currently trying to leave Gaza, including those who were supposed to cross Friday.

Meanwhile, the department is hinting at the possibility of Canadians being among those captured by Hamas in the brazen Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that Canada’s top official for consular cases was in the Middle East to try help securing the release of hostages being held by Hamas.

That role is to “engage with government representatives and others to seek the release of Canadian hostages abroad, including in the Middle East,” the department said.

Joly has long refused to say whether Canadians were among the hostages, an effort to avoid complicating the overall rescue effort. Ottawa refers only to “two Canadians who are missing” in the region, citing privacy considerations.

Foreign nationals in the territory are trying to flee a worsening humanitarian situation and constant Israeli airstrikes. The bombardment is in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants, who killed 1,400 Israelis and kidnapped 239 people.

Abumiddain, 45, left Gaza after a fifth attempt on Wednesday with his wife and three children in tow, as part of an American group since their children are U.S. citizens.

He described the last month has been the worst of his life, calling it a “nightmare.” Abumiddain was living near the centre of the territory, while his wife and children were in Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

He only reunited with them when leaving the country, and crossing the border took 13 hours.

The family farm is about 900 metres from the Israeli border, and he was helping his dad out when the war began. He described the bombing in the area as intense.

“I was just telling my wife I’m surprised I’m here, because every day there, you feel like it’s the last day,” Abumiddain said. “I never thought I would see things like that in my real life.”

The family hopes to reunite in Egypt in the coming days. If they can, Abumiddain hopes to return to Mississauga, where he lived previously.

While his mother had gone to Ontario to visit his sister three weeks before the Israel-Hamas war broke out, his father has remained behind in Gaza.

The images of airstrikes in Gaza have already fuelled a number of tense protests in Canada, and Trudeau said Friday he’s concerned about Jews and Muslims being targeted.

He didn’t cite any specific examples, but Montreal police have said two Jewish schools were hit by gunshots, while a series of brawls at Concordia University led to three people being injured and one arrested.

“What’s happening in the Middle East right now is causing a lot of devastating emotions — fear, anger, grief — on all sorts of different communities, but particularly both the Muslim and the Jewish communities across Canada,” he said.

“We all need to be extremely concerned about the rise in tensions, the rise in threats of violence, the rise in actual acts of violence and the rise in hatred.”

In recent years, Muslims have shown up to support Jewish people after attacks at synagogues, and Jewish people have done the same after violence occurred at mosques, Trudeau noted.

“Canadians stand up for each other. We hear each other’s pain and grief and support each other.”

The White House announced Thursday that Israel agreed to put in place a daily four-hour “humanitarian pause” on its airstrikes in Gaza. Canadian officials said they hope the breaks in fighting will allow more departures of foreign nationals, the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid and the negotiation of an eventual end to the month-old war.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the promise of daily pauses came after he called on Israel to withhold bombardment for three or more days in the hopes that Hamas would release hostages, though he said there was “no possibility” of a ceasefire.

The Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory has said the bombardment has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians. Another 2,650 people have been reported missing.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “far too many” Palestinians have died and that Israel is not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties.

American officials have said the recent resumption of some water supplies and food shipments has yet to meet a huge demand for essentials.

Separately, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called on Friday for an investigation into what he called Israel’s “indiscriminate bombardment and shelling” in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal

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Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

2 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

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Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

3 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

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Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

3 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

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