Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie of the Canadian Joint Operations Command revealed on Friday that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) (or Royal Canadian Air Force) returned approximately 30 Israeli nationals to Israel amid the current deadly conflict with Hamas.

The Admiral was not clear who these individuals were, meaning it’s possible that they were Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reservists who are returning to Israel for the war. 

During a technical brief on the CAF’s involvement in getting Canadian-Israelis out of Israel, and Canadian-Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank, a reporter asked Auchterlonie if the Israelis were reservists.

“This was a request from the State of Israel,” Auchterlonie responded. “So we had flights going inbound today and meeting a request from the State of Israel through Global Affairs Canada, we’ve had approximately thirty Israelis heading back. I don’t have the information on who they were.”  

Auchterlonie added, “But it was a request from the State of Israel which we got through the Global Affairs Canada. We certainly actioned that. So we had 19 on the first flight inbound and 9 Israelis on the second flight returning to Tel Aviv from Athens.” 

Update

Following the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, Israeli authorities told 1.1 million Gazan citizens to evacuate the region. Israel subsequently began heavily bombing the Gaza strip in retaliation for Hamas’ attack.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, as of October 16, 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. On the Israeli side, at least 1,400  people have died and more than 2,300 others have been injured. Israeli authorities have said that 199 citizens have been taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza.