Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that the hostage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is an important first step toward lasting peace.
Although Trudeau did not use the word “ceasefire,” he said Canada hopes a four-day cessation of hostilities will eventually lead to a complete end to the fighting.
He also said he hopes the deal will allow more Canadians to leave the Gaza Strip. Six weeks of Israeli airstrikes have destroyed much of the Palestinian territory.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States helped broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas, under which 50 Hamas hostages will be released in stages in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. It is scheduled to be released.
The Israeli government has announced it will extend the truce by one day for every 10 hostages released, while Hamas has promised to allow hundreds of trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including fuel, into Gaza.
Canada’s Department of International Affairs said one Canadian was missing, but did not say whether that person was being held hostage. In a statement over the weekend, the United States referred to a group of about 240 hostages, including American and Canadian citizens.
“This is important progress, but we now need to redouble our efforts towards lasting peace,” Trudeau told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday morning.
“This humanitarian moratorium, which Canada and others have been calling for for weeks, will finally lead to the release of hostages. Significant humanitarian aid will be provided to civilians and innocent people. There are people in Gaza who desperately need it.
“This will allow us to protect civilian lives, including hopefully evacuating more Canadians and foreign nationals.”
featured videosCBC’s Paul Hunter breaks an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a four-day ceasefire and the release of 50 hostages. And global affairs expert Janice Stein explains why it took 45 days to arrive and the broader implications.
Prime Minister Trudeau added that an agreement was looming large during a phone call with G20 leaders on Wednesday morning.
Montreal Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who visited Israel this week with other Canadian MPs, said in a post on “There is,” he said.
He said he had met with many hostage families in Israel and was satisfied that the agreement between Israel and Hamas would lead to the release of 50 hostages and the provision of large-scale humanitarian aid to Gaza.
On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly expressed hope that the agreement would allow all foreign nationals in Gaza to leave the fighting zone, including the approximately 200 Canadians still in the country.
There were no Canadians on the list of foreigners approved to enter Egypt from Gaza on Wednesday.
The latest Israeli-Hamas war began after Hamas militants killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel on October 7.
Israel launched a retaliatory operation that included airstrikes and ground attacks, which health officials in the Gaza Strip said killed more than 12,700 people.
