Federal government tells Canadians to avoid all travel to Israel, West Bank as tensions rise
CTV
The government of Canada has upgraded its travel advisories to Israel and the West Bank, instructing Canadians to avoid all travel amid escalating tensions in the region.
The government of Canada has upgraded its travel advisories to Israel and the West Bank, instructing Canadians to avoid all travel amid escalating tensions in the region.
Previously, the federal government had advised Canadians to "avoid non-essential travel" to Israel and certain areas of the West Bank.
"With a heightened risk of attacks on Israeli territory, the regional security situation remains highly volatile & could escalate without notice," Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in a post Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
She added that Canadians should consider leaving by commercial means.
Countries including India, France, Poland and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Germany on Friday called on its citizens to leave Iran.
Israel braced for an attack by Iran or its proxies on Friday as warnings grew of retaliation for an attack on Iran's embassy compound last week in Damascus, Syria, that killed a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' overseas Quds Force and six other officers.
In a press briefing on Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden warned that an attack on Israel could come "sooner, rather than later."
