Pro-Palestine demonstrators emerge after a sit-in protest inside of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office in Toronto, Monday, Oct., 30, 2023. Demonstrations in support of Gaza are planned in at least two dozen Canadian cities today as the death toll in the Palestinian territory continues to mount. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
OTTAWA – Demonstrations are set to take place in more than two dozen Canadian cities today, with participants expected to voice support for residents of the Gaza Strip and the deteriorating humanitarian situation they face since the latest war between Israel and Hamas broke out last month.
Many of the rallies follow a national call for demonstrations by the Palestinian Youth Movement, which is calling for a ceasefire in the conflict.
The organization is also calling for humanitarian aid to be allowed to flow into the territory and an end to Canada’s support for Israel’s military action against Hamas, which the federal government has designated as a terrorist organization since 2002.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza reports more than 9,440 Palestinians have died in the war with Israel, which was triggered by the group’s incursion into that country on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 200 taken back into Gaza as hostages.
Israel immediately declared war in response and has launched daily attacks since then, stepping up bombardments over the past week and triggering growing global alarm about the lack of food, fuel and other basic supplies for Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million residents.
Today’s rallies are set to take place in cities including Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Fredericton, St. John’s, N.L., Edmonton and Nanaimo, B.C.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2023.
