Canadians are having trouble getting out of the Gaza Strip
Canadian passport holders were not released from the conflict territory.
Foreign Affairs Canada said none of the 266 Canadians on Friday's list of foreign nationals allowed to leave the Gaza Strip were able to leave.
Since November of this year, Egypt has opened the possibility of leaving the territory of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. At the same time, those leaving are released only on the basis of lists — mainly foreign nationals who have found themselves in the territory of the conflict or severely injured Palestinians. The list is published by the Palestinian authorities and coordinated with the Governments of Egypt and Israel.
Canadians initially had problems getting on the lists, but even after Foreign Affairs Canada was able to convince to put their citizens on the exit lists, the process was not without problems.
On November 7 and 9, about 107 people associated with Kanda managed to get into Egyptian territory (on the 8th, the checkpoint was closed for security reasons). Some of them are already in Canada, others were detained in Cairo: Egypt allows foreigners to stay in the country for 72 hours.
On the morning of November 10, 266 Canadian citizens, permanent residents and their families appeared on the daily list of foreigners allowed to travel to Egypt through Rafah. However, the crossing was eventually closed and all 266 remained in the Gaza Strip. The Canadian Foreign Ministry is keeping the situation under review:
"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 agency said it is aware of 550 Canadians who currently still want to leave Gaza — including those who were scheduled to leave on Friday.
It is still unknown whether Canadian citizens or residents are among the hostages held by Hamas. Melanie Joly does not make such assumptions publicly, but neither does she respond negatively to journalists' questions. Presumably the Canadian Foreign Ministry has remained silent on the issue so as not to endanger citizens or disrupt the negotiation process.
However, there are at least two Canadians known to be "missing".
