Canada announces it will allow 5,000 Gazans temporary visas

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A refugee arrives at the Roxham Road border crossing to at the US-Canada border in Champlain, New York, on March 25, 2023. - The Roxham Road crossing closed at midnight March 24, as Canadian and US media reported that Canada will be able to turn back illegal migrants at the crossing point on the frontier between New York state and Quebec. The reports said that Canada has agreed in return to take in some 15,000 asylum seekers from Latin America through legal channels, a move that will ease the pressure on the southern US border. Radio-Canada reported that the deal would take effect Saturday. (Photo by Lars Hagberg / AFP) (Photo by LARS HAGBERG/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier this week Canada said it will issue five times the amount of visas to Gazans it originally pledged. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said “While movement out of Gaza is not currently possible, the situation may change at any time. With this cap increase, we will be ready to help more people as the situation evolves.”

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Canada initially announced in December that it would allot 1,000 temporary resident visas to Canadian relatives living in Gaza. On Monday, Canada announced it will issue 5,000 visas stating they are “horrified” by an Israeli airstrike on Rafah.

Just The News reports Gazans will be able to apply for a temporary resident visa if they live in Gaza, are related to a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident who lives in Canada, and they will be supported by that relative for a year, the Canadian government said Monday. In most cases, people granted visas will be able to stay for up to three years, according to Canadian officials.

A spokesperson for Miller said 448 Gazans had been issued a temporary visa, including 254 under a policy not related to the special visa program, and 41 have arrived in Canada so far.

Reuters reports the Israeli airstrike late on Sunday night triggered a fire in a tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, prompting an outcry from global leaders including from Canada.

“We are horrified by strikes that killed Palestinian civilians in Rafah,” Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement, adding that Canada does not support an Israeli military operation in Rafah.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier that the strike in Rafah had not been intended to cause civilian casualties and that something had gone “tragically wrong.” Israel’s military, which is trying to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, said it was investigating.

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