Canada investigating possibility of aid airdrop into Gaza, minister says

Canada is looking into playing a role in a possible airdrop of aid into Gaza, says International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen.

In an interview with CBC Radio's airing Saturday, Hussen said countries like the Netherlands and United Kingdom have collaborated already with the Jordanian air force on similar actions, and Canada is looking at the «possibility and feasibility» of doing the same.

«It's something we're seriously considering and looking at the feasibility of doing… because you know, we have to do everything we can to avert mass starvation in northern Gaza and beyond,» he told host Catherine Cullen.

Hussen recently travelled to Jordan and the Egyptian border with Gaza. He described what he saw near Gaza as a «really dire situation.»

«People are in a very desperate situation and they're doing desperate things to survive,» he said.

Months of violence have followed the events of Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killed approximately 1,200 people and took roughly 250 others hostage, according to Israeli accounts. Since then, Israeli strikes have killed approximately 29,000 people, according to Gaza's Hamas-led health authority.

Humanitarian groups are calling for more aid to be allowed into Gaza to help with an intense and worsening crisis there. The World Food Programme recently suspended aid shipments to northern Gaza, citing «complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order» and warning again about the risk of starvation in the region.

Hussen said a significant amount of aid is waiting in Egypt and Jordan for delivery but only a limited amount can be shipped through the land border to Gaza.

«There's a big, disproportionate difference between the amount of aid that is pre-positioned in the