<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Canada will halt all arms shipments to Israel, a government official told AFP on Tuesday, a decision that has drawn the ire of Israel as it faces growing international scrutiny over its war in the Gaza Strip.</b></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The besieged Palestinian territory is facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, and months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the brink of famine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Canada, a key ally of the United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars a year in military aid, had already reduced its weapons shipments to Israel to non-lethal equipment such as radios following the October 7 Hamas attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The situation on the ground makes it so that we can’t” export any kind of military equipment, the Canadian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly told the Toronto Star newspaper on Tuesday that Ottawa would stop future arms exports to Israel.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel slammed the decision, with foreign minister Israel Katz saying it “undermines Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas terrorists.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;">“History will judge Canada’s current action harshly,” he said in a post on social media platform X.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed the move, saying in a post on X: “Given the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including widespread and growing starvation, the US should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel has historically been a top receiver of Canadian arms exports, with CAN$21 million worth of military materiel exported to Israel in 2022, according to Radio Canada, following CAN$26 million in shipments in 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That places Israel among the top 10 recipients of Canadian arms exports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ottawa has only exported “non-lethal” shipments such as communications equipment to Israel since the deadly October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel triggered a war in the Gaza Strip.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">No exports had been sent since January, the government official added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bloodiest-ever Gaza war broke out after an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel has responded with a relentless offensive against Hamas that has killed at least 31,819 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While affirming Israel’s right to defend itself, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken an increasingly critical stance toward Israel as civilian deaths have mounted in Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Monday, the Canadian Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the international community to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The issue of arms deliveries to Israel has triggered legal proceedings in several countries around the world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Canada, a coalition of lawyers and citizens of Palestinian origin filed a complaint against the government in early March to suspend arms exports to Israel, accusing it of violating both international and domestic law. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>