With air strikes and rocket attacks continuing Friday, Harper said the fresh outbreak of violence is a concern for Ottawa.
“Of course we’re always concerned about these kinds of hostilities,” Harper said, in his first comments since the Gaza conflict flared earlier this week.
“We have been concerned obviously for some time about the presence of a terrorist group, Hamas, in charge in the Gaza Strip,” Harper said during a visit to Quebec City.
“We condemn this terrorist group’s attacks on Israel,” the prime minister said.
“We recognize and support Israel’s right to defend itself against such terrorist attacks but obviously we urge all sides to take all precautions possible to spare any innocent lives,” Harper said.
In Ottawa, a small group of protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy and then marched in front of Parliament Hill to protest what they called “Israel’s attack on the people of Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged all sides to pull back from the “increasingly dangerous confrontation” and to respect humanitarian obligations to protect citizens, her spokesperson said in a statement.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Bruce Campion-Smith
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