Close X
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
ADVT 
National

Global Affairs Canada 'aware of reports' of missing Canadian in Gaza Strip

Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Feb, 2024 12:08 PM
  • Global Affairs Canada 'aware of reports' of missing Canadian in Gaza Strip

Ottawa says it is aware of reports that another Canadian citizen has gone missing in the Gaza Strip.

Global Affairs Canada says it is providing consular assistance to the family but can't share more because of privacy considerations. 

The Associated Press reports that Israeli forces detained two young adult American brothers and their Canadian father in Gaza in an overnight raid.

Relatives of the men say they were taken from their home.

A U.S. Embassy official in Jerusalem reached by telephone from Washington said American officials were aware of the situation and were following up with Israeli authorities.

The embassy official gave no details and ended the call without giving her name, while the Israeli foreign ministry and military had no immediate comment.

Borak Alagha, 18, and Hashem Alagha, 20, two brothers born in the Chicago area, are among fewer than 50 U.S. citizens known to still be trying to leave sealed-off Gaza, as the Israel-Hamas war entered its fifth month.

Cousin Yasmeen Elagha, a law student at Northwestern University, said Israeli forces entered the family home in the community of al-Muwasi, near the southern city of Khan Younis, around 5 a.m. Gaza time Thursday.

The soldiers tied up and blindfolded the women and children in the family, and placed them outside the home, the cousin said.

The two American brothers, their Canadian citizen father, a mentally disabled uncle and two other adult male relatives were taken away by the Israelis, and remain missing, Elagha said.

Men of a neighboring household were also taken away. So were other adult male relatives of another Alagha household, for a total of about 20 detained, the U.S. cousin said.

A family social media account from Gaza also described the detentions.

State Department spokespeople in Washington had no immediate comment on the reported detention of the American brothers.

The brothers would be among three American citizens taken into custody by Israeli forces this week, during the same time Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region to try to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release deal with ally Israel and regional Arab leaders.

MORE National ARTICLES

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal
A decision dated Thursday says the six-year sentence handed to Corey Hurren in March 2021, less a year for the time he spent in custody before his sentencing, was "entirely fit." Hurren, a sausage-maker who served with the military's Canadian Rangers, had pleaded guilty to seven weapons charges and one mischief charge for his actions on the morning of July 2, 2020.

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault
Allen Brooks was convicted by a provincial court judge in 2020 for sexual assaults that allegedly happened in 1990 and 1997 while he was working as an X-ray technician at a hospital in Maple Ridge. Brooks was acquitted of a third count of sexual assault that was alleged to have occurred in 2001.

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow
Mounties say they were called to the parking lot of the Port Place Mall in the Vancouver Island city on Monday after the man was reportedly threatening people with a stick and the toy bow and arrow.

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow

'Troubled' Eby seeks CSIS interference briefing

'Troubled' Eby seeks CSIS interference briefing
The report prompted Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim to say on Thursday that he was disgusted by its "insinuations," and he wouldn't be part of the conversation if he was Caucasian. Eby says the majority of tools to fight international interference are in federal hands, but he needs to know if there's any way for B.C. to "close any gaps" that the province may have available to it.

'Troubled' Eby seeks CSIS interference briefing

A suspect has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man in Chinatown

A suspect has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man in Chinatown
A suspect has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man in Chinatown, following a five-week Vancouver Police investigation. BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of second-degree murder against Jaal Routh Kueth, a 30-year-old man from Surrey. Kueth remains in custody.

A suspect has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man in Chinatown

Take up case of 700 Punjabi students deportation from Canada: Sukhbir Badal

Take up case of 700 Punjabi students deportation from Canada: Sukhbir Badal
Giving details of the case, Badal said the students paid Rs 16 to Rs 20 lakh to the company which purportedly facilitated their admission in Humber College in Ontario by generating fake admission offer letters along with fake fee deposit receipts.

Take up case of 700 Punjabi students deportation from Canada: Sukhbir Badal