Canada to accept 1,000 visa applications from Canadians’ relatives in Gaza

Canada will accept up to 1,000 visa applications from Palestinians who want to flee Gaza and seek refuge with their Canadian extended family members, but a Muslim organization wants the cap removed, according to reports Tuesday.

The program, slated to start next week, is in response to pleas from Palestinian Canadians to provide a safe path to those trapped in the chaos of Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war rages on.

It will offer visas for up to 1,000 Palestinians, allowing them to come and stay in Canada for up to three years if their sponsoring families guarantee financial support during their stay. The door to Canada would be closed at 1,000 applicants.

But the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which bills itself as Canada's largest Muslim advocacy group, said it has already been in contact with more than 1,000 people who have asked about getting relatives out of Gaza.

"There should not be a cap," Uthman Quick, the organization's director of communications, told the Canadian Press.

In a statement Tuesday, a Canadian immigration department spokesperson defended the program cap, saying it "takes into consideration the volatility on the ground and the difficulty that Canada and like-minded countries are having in moving people from Gaza to Egypt."

Gaza residents have been subjected to constant retaliatory attacks since the Palestinian group Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking more than 200 hostages.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since the cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 22,185 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,035 others injured, according to Gaza's health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.