Trudeau not ready to accept U.S. finding that Palestinian militants' rocket was behind Gaza hospital blast
'We saw some preliminary evidence but we'll keep working with our allies,' Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canadian officials are still reviewing evidence about the Gaza hospital blast that killed and maimed many Palestinian civilians and he's not prepared to say who's responsible.
That's a departure from what U.S. President Joe Biden and American national security services have said about the explosion.
"We are working closely with allies to determine exactly what happened," Trudeau told a press conference with Caribbean leaders in Ottawa when asked if he accepted the Israeli version of events that has since been endorsed by the U.S. government.
The Israeli military has said a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian militants was behind the explosion.
Hamas has blamed an Israeli airstrike for the blast.
There are conflicting reports about how many people died in the blast.
"We saw some preliminary evidence but we'll keep working with our allies as quickly as possible before reaching any firm and final conclusion," Trudeau said in French, adding that many communities here in Canada are "personally affected in an intensive way by what happened over there."
He said Canada is "taking the necessary time to look carefully at everything" before saying what it believes transpired Tuesday at the Anglican Church-run facility in Gaza City.
During a wartime visit to Israel on Wednesday, Biden said the U.S. defence department showed him intelligence that suggests the explosion at the Ahli Arab Hospital likely was not caused by an Israeli airstrike.
"Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you," Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson later said that an analysis of "overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information" showed Israel was not behind the attack.
The Democratic and Republican leadership of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee issued a statement after reviewing the evidence that's been gathered so far.
"We feel confident that the explosion was the result of a failed rocket launch by militant terrorists and not the result of an Israeli airstrike," said Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Marco Rubio, the committee's leaders.
Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party's foreign affairs critic, said in question period he wanted to "give the government the opportunity to correct and clarify the record" on who was responsible for the deadly blast.
He said Canada's "closest intelligence allies" have already "clarified the record."
Those allies don't include the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Wednesday he would "not rush to judgment" about culpability. He also said the U.K., a Five Eyes intelligence partner, is "working at pace and cooperating and collaborating with our allies on this issue as we look to get to the bottom of the situation."
"Will the government clearly state that the Israel Defence Forces and the state of Israel were not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza on Tuesday?" Chong asked.
"What happened in Gaza is absolutely devastating. Palestinian civilians, Israeli civilians are equal and must be protected," Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said.
Joly pointed to Trudeau's earlier statement that Canada isn't ready to say definitively who caused the explosion.
"You heard the prime minister earlier today. Canada and its allies are working to determine exactly what happened and Canadians deserve answers," she said.
At a later press conference about Canadian diplomats leaving India, Joly was pressed to explain why Canada isn't willing yet to accept U.S. and Israeli statements assigning blame for the hospital blast.
"The prime minister has already answered," Joly said.
She bristled at repeated questions about the situation.
"I said it in the House, I said it in French, and I'll say it again. What happened in Gaza is completely devastating. There's been numerous conversations. Canada is in contact with all of its allies on this issue. We'll make sure to know what exactly happened," she said.
Anglican church officials have said an untold number of Palestinian refugees were camped out in the hospital courtyard when the explosion hit Tuesday.
Images gathered by BBC News, the Associated Press and Reuters show that the hospital is still standing after the blast but there are blown-out windows, a small crater in the pavement near the site and burned-out vehicles and overturned cars nearby.
Are you in the Middle East and affected by the war between Israel and Hamas? We want to hear about your experience. Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
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