Canada is donating $4 million in humanitarian relief to the embattled Gaza Strip, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon announced Wednesday.
Cannon told reporters that $3 million of the Ottawa funding will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, while $1 million will go towards the Red Cross's work in Gaza.
The United Nations says thousands are without food, water and electricity in Gaza, which has been the subject of 12 days of Israeli bombardment.
Of the 39 Canadians trapped in Gaza, Cannon said the government was working on finding a solution for them to leave "as soon as safe conditions are in place."
Earlier in the day Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Kent suggested they might be able to escape during a three-hour ceasefire that took place Wednesday.
Paul Dewar, the NDP foreign affairs critic, said it would impossible to say for sure if three hours would be enough time.
"There was an attempt to get the Canadians out the other day and it failed. I hope that (three-hour) time allotment would be sufficient, but we're in a war zone here," he said.
The ceasefire, the first of a proposed daily three-hour cessation of violence, passed Wednesday, but it doesn't appear the Canadians were able to leave.
Cannon said Canada is calling for an "immediate and durable" truce in the region and said he has been discussing with his fellow ministers from other countries, the possibility of brokering a peace deal.
He also reiterated Ottawa's position that the blame for the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip rests firmly on the shoulders of Hamas -- which Canada considers a terrorist organization.
Earlier, Kent said Israel is only defending itself against the militants.
"Canada's position remains as it has for the past three years," Kent said. "Israel has a right to defend itself. Canada believes the Hamas rocket attacks were the cause of this crisis and are the principal reason why this crisis continues."
Dewar said both sides in the conflict share responsibility for the violence, and any ceasefire must have long-term commitments from the international community.
"Over the years, there has been this kind of sputtered approach, where the international community has turned their attention to what's happening when things get terrible, and then they turn away," said Dewar.
"We see now the results of that: the conflict has ramped up to the extent that civilians on both sides are paying the price."
He added that Canada could play a role in monitoring any sort of ceasefire agreement.
