Canada has announced an additional $65 million in international aid to Gaza, bringing its total funding to $165 million to support Palestinians in the region.
The funding aims to address the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza due to a ground offensive by Israeli forces into Rafah, International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a May 16
news release.
Israel has described
Rafah, a Palestinian city in southern Gaza, as the last significant stronghold of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The Rafah border crossing is the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt to the south. Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat Hamas after seven months of conflict.
Israeli forces began their counterstrikes against Hamas after the group launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking over approximately 240 hostages.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) issued an operational update on the X platform on
May 6 saying it was conducting targeted strikes against Hamas targets in eastern Rafah.
Then in the early morning hours of May 7, the IDF
reported that its troops had established control of the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing in eastern Rafah after receiving intelligence that the crossing was being used for terrorist activities.
It said residents “were encouraged to temporarily evacuate” to Al-Mawasi, an evacuation zone in the Gaza Strip that has been expanded, ahead of the operation
The IDF also said it had begun “a precise counterterrorism operation to eliminate Hamas terrorists and infrastructure within specific areas of eastern Rafah.”
This operation followed mortars fired from the Rafah Crossing area southeast toward the Kerem Shalom Crossing area killing four IDF soldiers and injuring several others, the IDF said. Kerem Shalom was the main route for commercial goods from Israel into Gaza prior to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Then on May 8, in the early morning, the IDF
announced the reopening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. It said trucks from Egypt providing humanitarian supplies were already arriving at the crossing.
Meanwhile, Ottawa’s May 16 news release cited unnamed food security experts saying “Gazans are already experiencing extreme famine.” While condemning Hamas’s attack on Israel last October, Ottawa also called for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire.”
“The parties to armed conflict are required by international humanitarian law to allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need,” the release said. “A significant and immediate increase in deliveries of food, water and other essential supplies is urgently needed to address these deteriorating conditions.”
Aid Package
Canada’s $65 million aid package includes $25 million in payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), characterized as an “existing multi-year commitment” with the agency. This funding aims to help meet the education, health, and social-safety-assistance needs of Palestinian refugees in the region, the release stated.The remaining $40 million will be distributed to UNRWA and other partners, such as the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and other Canadian non-governmental organizations.
Canada is also providing over $5 million to the CRC, which will work with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society to improve emergency medical services in the West Bank and Gaza.
Canada is allocating another $5 million to the U.N. Office for Project Support to coordinate aid for Gaza by establishing a supply chain system to expedite the humanitarian aid. Of this amount, $1 million will support operation of the maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza.
On Jan. 26,
Canada, along with the
United States, temporarily halted funding to UNRWA following allegations that a dozen employees of the U.N. agency directly took part in the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel last October.
Ottawa
resumed funding to UNRWA after reviewing an interim report from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services. Investigations into the alleged staff participation in the Hamas attack were ongoing at the time.
In April, several Canadian families with ties to victims of Hamas
took legal action against the federal government for reinstating funding to UNRWA, stating that funding such an organization is “in violation of its own anti-terrorism legislation.”
