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Canadian family with four children killed in Lebanon
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Seven Canadians from the same Montreal family, including four young children, were killed in Lebanon on Sunday when Israeli aircraft bombed a house in the south of the country, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said.
A Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the deaths and said three people were hurt. But she said the incident happened when the house in the town of Aitaroun was shelled.
Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said Ottawa was sending ships to help evacuate up to 40,000 Canadians believed to be in Lebanon.
The CBC named the dead as Ali El-Akhras, his wife Amira and their four children aged one, four, six and eight. The seventh family member was Ali's uncle, also named Ali, who had moved to Montreal from Lebanon 15 years ago.
"It's not just us," the elder Ali's son Hassan El-Akhras told CBC. "There are a lot of civilians who have been killed. The streets are closed. I am asking the international community to help and put pressure on Israel to stop the bombing."
MacKay issued a brief statement extending his sympathies to the relatives of the dead.
CBC said Israeli officials had called Canada's ambassador in Tel Aviv to apologize and promise a full investigation into what had gone wrong.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may now come under domestic pressure to take a tougher line on Israel's actions. On Thursday he described the Israeli attacks as justified and measured.
In Ottawa, CTV television said around 2,000 protestors gathered on Parliament Hill to protest against the Israeli attacks and Harper's words. "Killing children is not a 'measured response,"' read one banner.
Several hundred demonstrators also gathered in Montreal to oppose the Israeli attacks.
Harper is in Russia for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.
Since taking power in February, he has shifted Ottawa's stance on the Middle East from one of relative neutrality to a firmly pro-Israel position.
Canada has a significant minority of Lebanese origin as well as a fast-growing Muslim population.
Around 16,000 Canadians in Lebanon have registered with the embassy there but MacKay told CTV television that the real figure could be as high as 40,000.
MacKay said Canada -- working in conjunction with Britain and France -- was securing commercial vessels and positioning them off the coast of Lebanon to prepare for an evacuation.
"We're calling for restraint in all sectors right now and hope to be able to have those ships in place and citizens moving out of Lebanon as quickly as possible," he said.
Opposition parties and some relatives of those trapped in Lebanon say Canada has been too slow to come to the rescue.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren)
By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Seven Canadians from the same Montreal family, including four young children, were killed in Lebanon on Sunday when Israeli aircraft bombed a house in the south of the country, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp said.
A Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the deaths and said three people were hurt. But she said the incident happened when the house in the town of Aitaroun was shelled.
Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said Ottawa was sending ships to help evacuate up to 40,000 Canadians believed to be in Lebanon.
The CBC named the dead as Ali El-Akhras, his wife Amira and their four children aged one, four, six and eight. The seventh family member was Ali's uncle, also named Ali, who had moved to Montreal from Lebanon 15 years ago.
"It's not just us," the elder Ali's son Hassan El-Akhras told CBC. "There are a lot of civilians who have been killed. The streets are closed. I am asking the international community to help and put pressure on Israel to stop the bombing."
MacKay issued a brief statement extending his sympathies to the relatives of the dead.
CBC said Israeli officials had called Canada's ambassador in Tel Aviv to apologize and promise a full investigation into what had gone wrong.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may now come under domestic pressure to take a tougher line on Israel's actions. On Thursday he described the Israeli attacks as justified and measured.
In Ottawa, CTV television said around 2,000 protestors gathered on Parliament Hill to protest against the Israeli attacks and Harper's words. "Killing children is not a 'measured response,"' read one banner.
Several hundred demonstrators also gathered in Montreal to oppose the Israeli attacks.
Harper is in Russia for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.
Since taking power in February, he has shifted Ottawa's stance on the Middle East from one of relative neutrality to a firmly pro-Israel position.
Canada has a significant minority of Lebanese origin as well as a fast-growing Muslim population.
Around 16,000 Canadians in Lebanon have registered with the embassy there but MacKay told CTV television that the real figure could be as high as 40,000.
MacKay said Canada -- working in conjunction with Britain and France -- was securing commercial vessels and positioning them off the coast of Lebanon to prepare for an evacuation.
"We're calling for restraint in all sectors right now and hope to be able to have those ships in place and citizens moving out of Lebanon as quickly as possible," he said.
Opposition parties and some relatives of those trapped in Lebanon say Canada has been too slow to come to the rescue.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren)