Canada says Canadian citizen killed in Lebanon, urges Israel to cease attacks

Canada‘s foreign minister said Monday that a Canadian citizen was killed in southern Lebanon, urging Israel to cease its attacks.

“Today, I was made aware of the death of a Canadian citizen in southern Lebanon,” Anita Anand said in a statement, extending condolences to the victim’s family and community.

She said Canadian officials are in contact with the family to provide consular assistance as needed.

“Canada firmly supports the Lebanese government’s efforts to restore and exercise full state authority, including through the disarmament of Hezbollah,” she said.

“We call on Israel to cease its attacks and encourage Israel and Lebanon to reach a durable, diplomatic solution to end the conflict,” she added.

Anand did not identify the victim or attribute responsibility for the killing.

The victim was identified as Mohamad Hassan Haidar, a 38-year-old Ontario resident and father of five, who was killed last week while attempting to help someone during a drone strike, according to Canada’s public broadcaster CBC.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) said Haidar was killed in the Israeli strike.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that 34 more people were killed and 174 others wounded in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours.

In a statement, the ministry said the latest fatalities brought the death toll since March 2 to 2,089, with 6,762 others injured.

The Israeli army has expanded its air and ground offensive across Lebanon since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2 amid regional tensions resulting from a US-Israeli war on Iran since Feb. 28.