The first Canadian Armed Forces evacuation flight for Canadians out of Israel has landed in Athens, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.
A second was due to take off later in the day, said Trudeau, speaking at a press conference in the Northwest Territories. He also announced federal funds for urgent humanitarian needs in the region.
“Canada will be providing an initial $10 million in humanitarian assistance to address urgent needs in Israel and in the Gaza Strip,” said Trudeau.
Trudeau condemned the coordinated and deadly actions by Hamas and reiterated support for Israel’s right to defend itself, in accordance with international law.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that has brutally murdered innocent civilians, that has chosen to invade Israel, that has chosen to cause just horrific devastation,” said Trudeau.
“We continue to look for ways to support civilians — both Palestinian and Israelis — and ensure that as many civilians as possible are kept safe during this terrible conflict.”
Efforts to move Canadians out of Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv began Thursday, with two departures scheduled. Canada follows a number of other countries in working to evacuate citizens after a deadly Hamas attack on Saturday that has led to days of violence.
The departures list at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport has two Canadian Air Force flights scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time. Defence Minister Bill Blair posted on X that approximately 130 people were on board the first flight.
Two more flights are listed for Friday departures out of Ben Gurion, at 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly had announced the CAF flights would begin flying out of Tel Aviv “in the coming days” on Wednesday morning. These CC-150 aircraft are intended to carry Canadians, permanent residents and their families.
The CAF flights will do a shuttle run between Tel Aviv and Athens. From there, Joly said Ottawa is working with Air Canada to bring these evacuees back to Canada.
Passengers on the Air Canada flight will pay out of pocket.
When asked about the timing of announcing these assisted departure flights, Joly said that this is a rare course of action and one not normally taken when commercial flights are still operational.
However, the government is initiating the assisted departure due to the high number of flight cancellations and delays, with few answers on when they will be rescheduled.
A Global News analysis found that approximately 53 per cent of scheduled flights are taking off from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
On Wednesday, Joly stressed that Canada is the first of the Five Eyes countries to begin assisted departures out of Israel. She said that Australia made a similar announcement after she first posted on X that Canada would begin evacuation flights on Tuesday evening.
Britain will facilitate flights out of Israel to help its citizens leave the country, with the first such flight due to depart Tel Aviv later on Thursday, the foreign office said in a statement.
France will organize additional repatriation flights from Israel’s Tel Aviv airport on Friday and Saturday, the foreign ministry in Paris said in a statement.
“We are working with Air France to allow for a resumption of its commercial flights as soon as possible,” the statement said.
— with files from Reuters.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.