Canadian federal police are investigating alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, the Toronto Star newspaper reported Sunday, revealing for the first time that the probe has been ongoing since early 2024.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed to the Star that it has been investigating the “Israel-Hamas armed conflict” for over a year now, but declined to share any details about what had triggered the probe or any of its findings thus far.
In response to further questions from the newspaper, the RCMP said it had a duty to consider “allegations from all parties involved with impartiality,” and would not provide any further details while the investigation was still ongoing.
The RCMP probe is a “structural investigation,” or a fact-finding mission, that aims to hold war criminals accountable and prevent them from finding safe haven by handing information collected to other authorities or trying suspects in court.
While the events that triggered the investigation have not been made public, the Canadian Department of Justice told the news outlet that the RCMP had the right to launch structural investigations under the country’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Program “when there is evidence that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide have occurred or are occurring anywhere in the world.”
The investigations also depend on “a specific immigration community in Canada — either on a temporary residence or permanent residence basis — which is sufficiently large so that the RCMP may gather the necessary evidence,” the Department of Justice said.
According to the news outlet, such cases rarely end up in Canadian courts.
Criticism of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has been growing, in particular due to the recent total blockade on all aid deliveries, which was only recently partially lifted, and Canada has been no exception.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney joined the UK’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron last month in issuing a joint condemnation of the humanitarian situation in the Strip, and threatening “further concrete action” if Israel refused to halt the fighting and allow in more aid.
The three countries also rebuked the Israeli government for the use of “abhorrent language” by several ministers when discussing the enclave’s roughly 2.3 million residents, and their calls for “permanent forced displacement.”
The joint statement also called for Hamas to “release immediately the remaining hostages they have so cruelly held since 7 October, 2023.”
Fifty-eight of the 251 hostages taken in the Hamas-led invasion and massacre are still held by terror groups in Gaza, of whom 35 have been confirmed dead.
“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism,” they said. “But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.”
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that more than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or presumed dead in the enclave amid the war sparked by the terror group on October 7, 2023. The toll cannot be verified, however, and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has long denied any accusations of having committed war crimes in the enclave, asserting that it takes steps to avoid civilian casualties while fighting terror groups that operate among civilians.
The international community has challenged this, saying the high number of reported civilian casualties and Israeli limitations on the entry of food into Gaza cast doubt on its commitment to protecting innocents.