Plan to let Canadians and other foreign nationals leave Gaza at Rafah crossing cancelled
Western embassies told by Israeli officials that crossing into Egypt is a no-go
Canadians and other foreign nationals were unable to leave Gaza via the Egyptian border crossing at Rafah on Saturday, leaving those civilians still waiting for a way out of the emergent war zone as the day came to a close.
CBC News viewed a message that Israeli officials sent to several Western embassies indicating that a potential Saturday afternoonwindow for crossingthe border into Egypt was cancelled.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Jolytold reportersthat Saturday'splanned Rafah crossings had to be halted due to unspecified "violence." She said she was seeking more information on the circumstances.
Joly said some 40 families with Canadian ties had been "seeking to secure safe passage" usingthe Rafah crossing.
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The minister said Israel had given assurances that Canadians would be able to leave Gaza. It was not immediately clear when that mightoccur.
These Canadians are among the estimated1,500 people in Gaza who holdWestern passports, according to The Associated Press.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced from their homes in Gaza in the wake of an intensive and days-long Israeli bombardment on targets in the territory, following a devastating surprise cross-border attack by Hamasmilitantsa week ago.
The number of displaced persons is growing, as some 1.1 million people in Gazawere told Fridayto move south with the same warnings repeatedSaturday ahead of anexpectedIsraeli ground offensive.Those who have been displacedcan move, but they can't actually leave the territory because theycan't cross atRafah, and Israel is not allowing any alternative pathsout.
"Nobody can leave Gaza nobody," Bushra Khalidi, a policy lead with Oxfam, toldCBC News Network on Thursday.
That leaves thestranded civilians trying to find a safe place inside Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million people and bordered by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
The surprise attack Hamas launchedon Oct. 7 saw more than 1,300 Israeli civilians and soldierskilled, and 150 people taken hostage.Within Gaza, as of Saturday,more than 2,200 people have diedamid the ensuing Israeli response, according to the Health Ministry andthat doesn't includethe1,500 Hamas fighters that Israel says were killed.
Gaza has further beensealed off from food, fuel and other supplies, as Israel seeks to compel Hamas to return its hostages thoughBasem Naim, a former Hamas government minister, saidthat wouldn't happenwhile Israel's operation continued in Gaza.
No exit at Rafah
The crossing at the town of Rafahis the only onebetween Egypt and Gaza.
Earlier this week, Egypt's Foreign Affairs Ministry saidairstrikes hadprevented it from operating, leaving trucks of aid stopped on the Egyptian side.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for access through Rafah in a speech on Thursday. He also pushed back against letting in large numbers of Palestinians.
"The threat there is significant because it means the liquidation of this [Palestinian]cause," el-Sisi said. "It's important for its people to stay steadfast and exist on its land."
He also pointed out that Egypt already hosts some nine million refugees. That population swelled this year as 300,000 Sudanese fled their country's war into Egypt, which was already facing an economic crisis.
On Saturday, Hamas leaderIsmail Haniyehsaid Palestinians will not leave Gaza or the West Bank to migrate to Egypt.
"Our decision is to remain in our land," hesaidin a televised speech, while addressing Egypt in that partof his address.
Khaled Gendy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said Egypt's primary concern is that hundreds of thousands of refugees will become a permanent reality.
"What sort of guarantees are there going to be for their return?" he said.
Meanwhile, the Israel-controlled pedestrian crossing into Gaza at Erezhas been closed until further notice, as has the commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom.
Under all of these constraints,civilians are simply trying to stay out of harm's way.
"There's nowhere to go," Oxfam's Khalidi said, adding that schools are serving as makeshift shelters, despite not beingsuitable for that purpose.
Sean Carroll, president and CEO of aid groupAnera, said Thursday there's no telling how long people will be living like this, and they're going to need to be supplied withfood, water and medicine.
More broadly, without food coming into Gaza, there are fears a disastrous shortage is imminent.
Nowhere to go
Israeli airstrikeshave levelled residential buildings and neighbourhoods in Gaza. The Israeli militaryhas indicated it is using intelligenceto target locations being used by Hamas and says that civilians were warned.
Mkhaimer Abusada fled his apartment in Gaza City days ago after a bombardment"very much erased" a nearby neighbourhood.
He rejected calls for Palestinians to leave areas being targeted in Gaza asthere is nowhere they can go.
"Two million people are trapped," he told CBC News on Tuesday.
Gideon Levy, a columnist with Israel's Haaretz newspaper, penned arecent column saying his country must come to a reckoning with Hamasalone and not the population of Gaza as a whole.
He told CBC News Network on Thursday that, in his view,"there must be some limits" militarily and otherwise on how Israel responds to what Hamas did.
Manycivilianswill expectedly be among the victims as Israel furtherresponds, Levy said."We have to raise our voice to stop at a certain stage, because otherwise it will be really a bloodbath in Gaza."
With files from The Associated Press, CBC's Stephanie Jenzer and Christian Paas-Lang, and Reuters
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