Foreign Affairs committee  On the assistance from Canadians, we are aware that individual Canadians have been making contributions through the Red Cross and through others that have appealed. We know that in the Jewish stakeholder community in Canada, a variety of different appeals have moved forward. I saw a report this morning that there's $100 million in assistance that has been gathered by Canadians who feel an affinity with Israel.

Foreign Affairs committee  We've separated out the way we talk about the West Bank and Gaza in this because the situations are so different in the immediate conflict. My colleague was speaking, for instance, about evacuating Canadians from the West Bank, where the set of circumstances differs appreciably from Gaza's, but we do not, as a political entity, differentiate between the West Bank and Gaza as Palestinian territories.

Foreign Affairs committee  No.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Certainly we're interested in being part of those conversations about how we can incentivize a two-state solution. Canada has engaged deeply on the Middle East peace process over the years. We've built up an excellent reputation and expertise on some of the final status issues between Israelis and Palestinians, including the refugee file and Jerusalem.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think our focus right now in terms of preparations is mainly on the side of my colleague, who's looking at Canadians in the region and how to support their needs if there should be an escalation in the region. That said, we have long-standing relationships with Lebanon. We have a Middle East strategy that has been in effect for the last several years, and a good amount of development assistance is being delivered.

Foreign Affairs committee  This is not a conversation that has been ongoing at this point, but I will certainly take your comments back to our team, and we will—

Foreign Affairs committee  The statement released on Saturday indicates what we believe happened with a high degree of certainty, based on the intelligence we've seen, based on our analysis of the blast zone and based on what we can see. I think this is the most definitive statement we've made at this point about what we think happened there and I think this needs to be taken as the most definitive explanation of where the government sits on this—

Foreign Affairs committee  Indeed, the regional context of this is extremely challenging. I think we, with our international partners, are working very hard on questions around de-escalation there. We don't have any evidence that Iran was directly involved in the terrorist attacks of October 7. That said, we remain gravely concerned about Iran's destabilizing actions across the entire Middle East region, and we're watching very closely.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry, but I'm not aware of that statement. I do know that there is a statement—

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm not in a position to make that judgment. We are watching a fast-moving situation on the ground. We are encouraging all parties to do what they need to do under international humanitarian law to respect the laws of conflict and to ensure the protection of civilians.

Foreign Affairs committee  The Government of Canada has not called for a ceasefire specifically. The Government of Canada has encouraged parties to the conflict to follow their obligations under international humanitarian law and to ensure humanitarian access, particularly into Gaza, given the desperate conditions there.

Foreign Affairs committee  We have indicated that the Government of Israel needs to abide by the rules of war and international law. Those are questions that need to be responded to. There are questions around military strategy that the Government of Israel will take on itself but that we're certain will be closely watched from outside.

Foreign Affairs committee  We have been emphasizing those parameters of international humanitarian law and international law. That is what we've been saying: that they must act within those parameters that are established.

Foreign Affairs committee  The Government of Canada's most recent statement on this, which came out on Saturday from the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence, indicated that the assessment we have made, with a high degree of certainty, indicates that this came from the Palestinian side.

Foreign Affairs committee  The events are moving very quickly, and it's important for us to be able to step back and take a pause, look at the evidence—