Carney's statement on aid in Gaza + The premiers want powers to issue work permits
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Global News
12 hours ago
- Global News
Ontario paramedic fired for criticizing Israel on social media hopes to be reinstated
A York Region paramedic says she was looking forward to working in the field again after a six-year union leave, but she was abruptly fired last month over a Facebook comment criticizing Israel's military actions in the Middle East. 'I was about to be back on an ambulance at the end of July,' Katherine Grzejszczak said Thursday in her first public comments about the case. 'I was actually really excited and looking forward to going back out, to being a paramedic.' Instead, the veteran paramedic said she was fired on June 20 after she criticized Israel's bombing of Gaza and several countries, and accused the country of starving Palestinian children and killing health-care workers in a comment on a union social media post. The Regional Municipality of York said last month that officials launched an investigation into an employee's 'concerning comments on social media' on June 19, which led to a dismissal. Story continues below advertisement 'I think it's extremely unfortunate that we are here,' said Grzejszczak, who served on the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario's executive board. 'It's not a good time, it has been an extremely emotionally difficult time for me.' Grzejszczak told reporters that the comment she made was in line with her 'professional obligations' as a health worker. 'I love my job as a paramedic because it is first and foremost about preserving life and alleviating suffering,' she said, adding that calling for an end to 'a genocide is not a threat to public safety, it is public safety.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'I really hope that I'm soon reinstated so that I can continue using my life saving skills to serve the residents of York Region,' she said at a news conference, surrounded by supporters and union members. Her dismissal has triggered concern among free speech advocates and lawyers who say it was a violation of Grzejszczak's Charter rights. 'Whether one agrees or disagrees with the content of her Facebook post, she was exercising her Charter-protected right to freedom of expression,' Daniel Paré, a senior fellow at the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said at the press conference. He called on York Region to reinstate Grzejszczak, who has been a paramedic since 2010. Story continues below advertisement 'She is to be judged on whether she meets her professional standards of care, not her political beliefs,' Paré said. 'And let's be clear, there has been no suggestion that Katherine's political beliefs have ever resulted in any inappropriate treatment of any patient.' Reached for comment Thursday, a spokesperson for the Regional Municipality of York forwarded the statement originally issued in June about an employee's 'concerning comments.' Patrick Casey also said 'there is no change from York Region since the matter was initially addressed.' Krista Laing, the chair of CUPE Ontario Municipal Workers, said the entire process of firing Grzejszczak took less than 48 hours, and alleged there was no proper investigation. She said the decision sets a precedent that should worry workers across the province, and CUPE will continue to fight for her reinstatement. The Centre for Free Expression says it has seen an increase in the number of people being penalized for expressing their political views since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The latest war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages. Gaza's Health Ministry said earlier this week that the war's toll among Palestinians had surpassed 60,000. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, but has said that more than half of the dead are women and children. Story continues below advertisement The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed the figures, saying it only targets militants and it blames civilian deaths on Hamas. –With files from The Associated Press
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
At least 46 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, Gaza hospitals say, as the war drags on
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes and gunfire in the Gaza Strip killed at least 46 Palestinians overnight into Wednesday morning, most of them among crowds seeking food, local hospitals said. The dead include more than 30 people who were killed while seeking humanitarian aid, according to that treated dozens of wounded people. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on any of the strikes, but says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, because the group's militants operate in densely populated areas. The deaths came as the United Kingdom announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state in September, unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, following a similar declaration by France's president. Israel's foreign ministry said that it rejected the British statement. The Shifa hospital in Gaza City said that it received 12 people who were killed Tuesday night when Israeli forces opened fire towards crowds awaiting aid trucks coming from the Zikim crossing in northwestern Gaza. Thirteen others were killed in strikes in the Jabaliya refugee camp, and the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, the hospital said. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Nasser hospital said it received the bodies of 16 people who it says were killed Tuesday evening while waiting for aid trucks close to the newly-built Morag corridor, which separates Khan Younis from the southernmost city of Rafah. The hospital received another body for a man killed in a strike on a tent in Khan Younis, it said. The Awda hospital in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp said that it received the bodies of four Palestinians who it says were killed Wednesday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in the Netzarim corridor area, south of the Wadi Gaza. In addtion, seven Palestinians, including a child, have died of malnutrition-related causes in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said on Wednesday. A total of 89 children have died of malnutrition since the war began in Gaza. The ministry said that 65 Palestinian adults have also died of malnutrition-related causes across Gaza since late June, when it started counting deaths among adults. Hamas started the war with a militant-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, though Israel believes that more than half the remaining hostages are dead. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. ___ Samy Magdy reported from Cairo.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Israel's leader claims no one in Gaza is starving. Data and witnesses disagree
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no one in Gaza is starving: 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans.' President Donald Trump on Monday said he disagrees with Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza, noting the images emerging of emaciated people: 'Those children look very hungry.' After international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced humanitarian pauses, airdrops and other measures meant to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. But people there say little or nothing has changed on the ground. The U.N. has described it as a one-week scale-up of aid, and Israel has not said how long these latest measures would last. 'This aid, delivered in this way, is an insult to the Palestinian people,' said Hasan Al-Zalaan, who was at the site of an airdrop as some fought over the supplies and crushed cans of chickpeas littered the ground. Israel asserts that Hamas is the reason aid isn't reaching Palestinians in Gaza and accuses its militants of siphoning off aid to support its rule in the territory. The U.N. denies that looting of aid is systematic and that it lessens or ends entirely when enough aid is allowed to enter Gaza. Here's what we know: Deaths are increasing The World Health Organization said Sunday there have been 63 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this month, including 24 children under the age of 5 — up from 11 deaths total the previous six months of the year. Gaza's Health Ministry puts the number even higher, reporting 82 deaths this month of malnutrition-related causes: 24 children and 58 adults. It said Monday that 14 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, is headed by medical professionals and is seen by the U.N. as the most reliable source of data on casualties. U.N. agencies also often confirm numbers through other partners on the ground. The Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza, says this month it saw for the first time malnutrition deaths in children who had no preexisting conditions. Some adults who died suffered from such illnesses as diabetes or had heart or kidney ailments made worse by starvation, according to Gaza medical officials. The WHO also says acute malnutrition in northern Gaza tripled this month, reaching nearly one in five children under 5 years old, and has doubled in central and southern Gaza. The U.N. says Gaza's only four specialized treatment centers for malnutrition are 'overwhelmed.' The leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, has warned of famine for months in Gaza but has not formally declared one, citing the lack of data as Israel restricts access to the territory. Aid trucks are swarmed by hungry people The measures announced by Israel late Saturday include 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in three heavily populated areas, so that U.N. trucks can more more easily distribute food. Still, U.N. World Food Program spokesperson Martin Penner said the agency's 55 trucks of aid that entered Gaza on Monday via the crossings of Zikim and Kerem Shalom were looted by starving people before they reached WFP warehouses. Experts say that airdrops, another measure Israel announced, are insufficient for the immense need in Gaza and dangerous to people on the ground. Israel's military says 48 food packages were dropped Sunday and Monday. Palestinians say they want a full return to the U.N.-led aid distribution system that was in place throughout the war, rather than the Israeli-backed mechanism that began in May. Witnesses and health workers say Israeli forces have killed hundreds by opening fire on Palestinians trying to reach those food distribution hubs or while crowding around entering aid trucks. Israel's military says it has fired warning shots to disperse threats. The U.N. and partners say that the best way to bring food into Gaza is by truck, and they have called repeatedly for Israel to loosen restrictions on their entry. A truck carries roughly 19 tons of supplies. Israel's military says that as of July 21, 95,435 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That's an average of 146 trucks per day, and far below the 500 to 600 trucks per day that the U.N. says are needed. The rate has sometimes been as low as half of that for several months at a time. Nothing went in for 2 1/2 months starting in March because Israel imposed a complete blockade on food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza. Delivering aid is difficult and slow The U.N. says that delivering the aid that is allowed into Gaza has become increasingly difficult. When aid enters, it is left just inside the border in Gaza, and the U.N. must get Israeli military permission to send trucks to pick it up. But the U.N. says the military has denied or impeded just over half the movement requests for its trucks in the past three months. If the U.N. succeeds in picking up the aid, hungry crowds and armed gangs swarm the convoys and strip them of supplies. The Hamas-run civilian police once provided security along some routes, but that stopped after Israel targeted them with airstrikes. ___ Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at
