After previously telling Canadians to find their own way to leave Israel amid the ongoing war with Iran and Hamas, Ottawa announced Monday that bus evacuations from Israel and the West Bank have now begun.
“A group of Canadians in the West Bank have safely crossed into Jordan via the Allenby / King Hussein Bridge with support from our consular officials on the ground,” Global Affairs stated in a post on the X social media platform.
Hours later, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran and Israel have reached an agreement for ceasefire effective midnight Wednesday. Global Affairs had not provided an update on its plans after this announcement at the time of this writing.
In a social media post earlier Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand provided updates on the evacuation efforts, saying that 55 Canadians took buses out of Tel Aviv to Jordan on Monday morning, along with seven Canadians who exited the West Bank. She added that 10 Canadians have used buses offered by the Canadian government to leave Turkey where they had fled from Iran.
“Canada has more capacity to facilitate travel out of the region and we encourage all Canadians still there to avail themselves of these options,” Anand said.
In a June 19 statement on X, Global Affairs said Canada was “planning commercial travel options” to help citizens escape danger in Israel, the West Bank, and Iran, and also added that there are “ongoing efforts to assist Canadians attempting to leave Gaza.”
Nations have taken different approaches to evacuating citizens out of the war-torn Middle East as conflict escalates between Israel and Iran.
France and Australia have offered buses out of Israel and other regions involved in the current conflict. The United States already announced evacuations by air and cruise ship last week. The majority of the airspace of Iran and Israel is closed as the two states continued to exchange missile attacks.
An estimated 3,500 Canadians currently reside in Iran, with 6,700 in Israel and approximately 80,000 in the Middle East as a whole, according to Global Affairs Canada. Travel warnings from the federal government caution against all travel to Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Iran.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
