Families, non-essential embassy staff at Canadian missions in Israel leave: Global Affairs

Family members and some non-essential embassy staff from Canada's missions in Tel Aviv and Ramallah have left the region, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) announced late Monday.

"GAC takes all appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security of our personnel, including locally-engaged staff, and operations abroad," said the department in its latest written statement on the situation Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, amid the ongoing war. 

"We continue to monitor the safety and security of our personnel closely and continue to provide the necessary support to all Embassy personnel as the situation evolves," GAC said.

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Essential officials on the ground and working out of other offices with enhanced capacity continue to provide consular assistance to the now more than 6,900 Canadians registered in Israel and the estimated 455 Canadians registered in the West Bank and Gaza, the department said.

Since the conflict began Oct. 7, GAC has responded to more than 6,200 inquiries from Canadians seeking information on their departure options and the overall security situation. Additional staff members were brought in from other embassies around the world to help respond after the embassy faced criticism from Canadians who reported considerable difficulty getting consular assistance during the first weekend of the attacks.

Assisted departures have now seen more than 1,000 passengers evacuated by air from Tel Aviv and 31 passengers — including Canadians and some foreign nationals — shuttled out of the West Bank.

"We are actively planning additional assisted departure options," GAC said, noting work is still underway to try to arrange evacuations from Gaza.

In an interview on CTV's Question Period that aired Sunday, Canada's ambassador to Israel Lisa Stadelbauer described the staffed-up embassy as a "humming hive of activity."

Though, just five minutes before the interview began, the ambassador said she was just in a bomb shelter after rocket sirens sounded.

"People are being very cautious. There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of worry, a lot of tension," she said.

Asked if she felt safe, Stadelbauer said "mostly, yes."

"I have faith in the Iron Dome … and our shelters are good. The infrastructure here in Israel is such that people are never very, very far away from a bomb shelter," the ambassador said.

"There's a sophisticated system of sirens and so we know that when we're in Tel Aviv, if we hear a siren it's for us, it's that specific and we have about 90 seconds to get to shelter. So we're coping."