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<\/p>\nAn orthopedic surgeon from Saskatchewan, Dr.\u202fDeirdre Nunan, who recently returned from an assignment in Gaza, is urging Canada to take stronger action.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the Canadian government propose to recognize the state of Palestine, but this is not a practical move,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney affirms Canada\u2019s intent to recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly later this month and Nunan said her message to Ottawa is clear: recognition alone won\u2019t save lives.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s urging a meaningful resumption of aid flow into Gaza and for Canada to implement a two-way arms embargo.<\/p>\n
Canada did announce an arms embargo, but a parliamentary report flagged loopholes; Nunan is now calling for those gaps to be closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s completely appalling and every time I\u2019ve gone, I\u2019ve thought that we have reached rock bottom\u2026 I did not think things would get worse. They were, they got worse\u2026 for so many lives that have been lost, for so many people who have been injured in that time of inaction,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
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Doctors Without Borders Canada executive director, Sana B\u00e9g, labels the situation \u201cunequivocally a genocide,\u201d asserting Israel\u2019s destruction of water infrastructure and blockade has driven civilian suffering.<\/p>\n
Nunan captured a photo of a desalination facility in southern Gaza, the functioning of which has been affected by fuel shortages. She said she witnessed children begging for water in hospital hallways.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tDeirdre Nunan says she captured this image of the southern Gaza desalination plant on July 3, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Deirdre Nunan\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a time when children are begging for water, I think it has to be clear that there is a water shortage of the highest magnitude,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
B\u00e9g warns that not a single hospital in Gaza is now fully functional; she said only 18 of 36 still show partial operations. She said Canada needs to act under its international humanitarian law obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop the genocide in Gaza, stop ethnic cleansing and forced displacement. We are calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. Lift the siege. Canada needs to play its role and show real leadership in abiding by international humanitarian law and making the same demands,\u201d B\u00e9g told Global News in an interview.<\/p>\n
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Israel strongly opposes the Palestinian state recognition from countries like Canada, saying it could undermine peace efforts and escalate tensions. Israeli officials are reportedly considering the annexation of parts of the West Bank in response to burgeoning international recognition moves.<\/p>\n
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) says its military operations target Hamas militants, not civilians and seek to protect Israelis from ongoing rocket attacks. The IDF stresses that warnings are issued before strikes and efforts are made to minimize civilian harm.<\/p>\n
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Nunan has worked in Gaza since 2019, with three assignments since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and Israel\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
During her most recent assignment in Gaza in July of 2025, Nunan describes treating many of her patients at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with minimal supplies, little or no anesthetic, limited clean water and frequent power outages.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were days when we didn\u2019t have enough fuel to run the generators in the hospital to power the air conditioning. So the surgeons were dripping sweat into the wounds of the patients as they were operating on them,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
Nunan said she saw patients treated in tents and on mats outside hospital buildings, operating rooms running on bottled water and surgical teams working amid heat, power outages and constant airstrikes.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tDoctors treating an injured man admitted to a mat on the floor beside a tent on July 25, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy: Deirdre Nunan\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients were being admitted into tents outside the hospital\u2026 we were using bottled water to pour over our hands as we washed them before surgeries,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
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Traumatic injuries from missile impacts and shrapnel, to burns and crush wounds, were widespread, often requiring amputations, Nunan recounted.<\/p>\n
\u201cA majority of the injuries that we\u2019re seeing were from explosive injuries. So this is missiles shelling largely on people who are at home with their families in their tents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nunan said gunshot wounds were another frequent injury, including among civilians reporting they were attacked while waiting for aid. She said children accounted for at least one-third of her patients, with some as young as six weeks old.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the most severe injuries I\u2019ve seen in my career\u2026 it was five worst cases I\u2019ve\u00a0seen in a year in one day and then the next day would be the same,\u201d Nunan said.<\/p>\n
Nunan is bringing her testimony to a public event in Vancouver on Monday, Sept. 8, alongside author Naomi Klein, making clear the eyes of both the crisis zone and Canada are watching what policymakers do next.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCanadian doctor urges Ottawa to go beyond Palestine recognition\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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