Expectations of an impending ground invasion are mounting in Rafah in the south of Gaza, following a wave of air attacks that provided cover for an Israeli hostage rescue mission.
The high-risk operation involved soldiers storming a heavily guarded apartment building to free two Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants for more than four months.
The escalating military action by Israel in Rafah propelled more than 100 Palestinian supporters to demonstrate outside the Prime Minister's Office in Ottawa. Hala Alshaer was among the protesters demanding the federal government do more to end the war and bring trapped Canadians out of Gaza.
The Palestinian Canadian says, between the relatives on her mother and father's side, her family has lost more than 200 extended relatives since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
"They're wiping out streets, families – entire family trees," said Alshaer, who fears her cousin Ahmed Alagha and his family will be among the growing number of victims.
Alagha, who used to live in Toronto before moving to Chicago, is among the 1.4 million people, or half the population of Gaza, seeking refuge in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Canadian Ahmed Alagha, 48. He and his sons were arrested by Israeli forces along with about 20 other men, following a raid in their building on Feb. 7. (Photo submitted by Yasmeen Elagha)
Alagha and his wife and five children have dual Canadian and American citizenship. The family has been displaced several times since the war began and fled to Rafah after their names were placed on a list of foreign nationals approved to cross into Egypt in November. The border closed before they could cross.
Alshaer says her relatives are in greater danger now after Alagha, 48, and his two oldest sons, Borak, 18, and Hashem, 20, were detained by Israeli forces after a raid last Wednesday on the building where they were sheltering. Their mentally disabled uncle was also taken by soldiers.
She said Alagha's wife and younger children were blindfolded then "tied up and thrown against a wall – then, (soldiers) rounded up the men and their whereabouts are unknown."
Houston immigration lawyer Maria Kari is pressuring both the U.S. and Canadian government to find out where Alagha and his sons are, while simultaneously trying to get his wife and other children out of Gaza. Kari says the men are civilians. One son had just graduated from high school, while the other was studying engineering in university.
More than 100 demonstrators protested outside the Prime Minister's Office following a wave of Israeli bombings in Rafah on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. (Judy Trinh, CTV News)
"They are not part of any group. They were rounded up in one of the raids the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has been doing indiscriminately against men of military age." Kari says Israel is not making a distinction between who is a civilian and who is Hamas.
Kari is advocating on behalf of 40 families trapped in Gaza and says her phone is ringing constantly. The stories she hears are getting increasingly desperate.
"Terror, starvation and disease was already looming large. I have family members that I'm in touch with who are eating cats and dogs and sleeping in chicken coops," says Kari. "The sheer scale of the humanitarian disaster is incomprehensible."
The United Nations says one in four people in Gaza are starving and that not enough food, water and medicine is getting in.
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) says since Nov. 1, 2023, when the Rafah border crossing reopened to foreign nationals, more than 760 Canadians, permanent residents and immediate family members have exited Gaza. GAC spokesperson John Babcock says that 30 of these people left in the last week prior to the new wave of bombardments.
A ground invasion of Rafah by Israel appears likely, says Jack Cunningham, a professor of international relations at Trinity College at the University of Toronto. Rafah is where Hamas has its last battalions of fighters and the last urban area under its control.
"Both the leadership of the organization and the remaining hostages are there, and it includes the last remaining set of tunnels through which Hamas can smuggle weapons in from the outside world," says Cunningham.
A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute indicates a shift in Canadian opinion. After more than four months of war, sympathies for Palestinians have drawn to a near-even level with sympathies for Israelis.
One-third of Canadians say their sympathies are "about equal" between both sides. This closes a 10-point gap which existed at the beginning of the conflict.
Hamas attacked Israeli border towns on Oct. 7, taking approximately 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers hostage. The attacks resulted in more than 1,100 deaths.
According to Angus Reid, 50 per cent of Canadians now believe Israel's response has been "too heavy-handed," which is a five-point increase from November.
The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, and more than 67,000 are injured. Two-thirds of the victims are women and children.
The UN and U.S. government say there's no reason to doubt the figures.
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The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
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Iraqi authorities on Saturday were investigating the killing of a well-known social media influencer, who was shot by an armed motorcyclist in front of her home in central Baghdad.
As students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at universities across U.S. dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going, some universities shut down encampments after reports of antisemitic activity among the protesters.
The 75-year-old British monarch will slowly ease back into public life after a three-month break to focus on his treatment and recuperation after he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer.
The first criminal prosecution of a former president began in earnest with opening statements and testimony in a lower Manhattan courtroom. But the action quickly spread to involve more than half a dozen cases in four states and the nation's capital. Twice during the week, lawyers for Trump were simultaneously appearing in different courtrooms.
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Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Ottawa has plans to finally stop blocking Canadian development aid to Afghanistan this year.
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Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
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State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
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Mookie Betts went 3 for 5, including a triple and an RBI single, as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 on Saturday.
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An Alberta political scientist said the NDP leadership hopefuls remained fairly even following the first of the party’s debates.
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Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for several communities in northeastern Ontario on Saturday afternoon – primarily the Greater Sudbury area and West Nipissing.
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