Canada conducts 'war crimes probe' into Israel's ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza
As Canada stays silent on Israel’s Gaza assault, its police quietly probe war crimes amid outrage over a US-Israeli aid scheme accused of staging civilian massacres
On 2 June, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed the launch of an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces against the people of Gaza.
The probe began quietly in early 2024, with no public announcement, hotline, website, or awareness campaign, and was only confirmed to the Toronto Star on Monday.
The investigation is classified as a “structural investigation” – a broad, fact-finding mission designed to document violations committed during specific conflicts and to gather and preserve evidence, including victim testimony and digital records.
In a written response to media inquiries, the RCMP emphasized that it considers allegations from all sides with impartiality but declined to share further details, citing the need to protect the integrity of the ongoing probe.
“It’s exceedingly rare, however, for cases to end up in Canadian court,” the Toronto Starnoted, highlighting the limited legal reach of such investigations.
The confirmation comes amid growing international outrage over the deadly Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid scheme, launched on 27 May, following months of near-total blockade on humanitarian access to Gaza. GHF, a US-Israeli initiative implemented to bypass the UN and international agencies, has been accused of concentrating desperate civilians in militarized “distribution zones” without safeguards.
As of 3 June, since the GHF launch, at least 102 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 500 others injured at or near GHF distribution sites across Gaza in the last eight days, with most victims being starving civilians trying to access food.
While GHF denies any involvement in the massacres, witnesses and human rights organizations report that Israeli occupation forces fired on crowds, while in some cases, US-contracted mercenaries managing the sites fled, leaving people vulnerable to attack.
Even prior to these incidents, GHF had come under fire for what critics described as a politically engineered mechanism to force population displacement under the guise of aid. The system mandates biometric screening, requires Palestinians to travel to designated “sterile zones,” and excludes all neutral humanitarian bodies.
Groups such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and former UN officials have condemned the scheme as dehumanizing, ineffective, and a possible violation of international humanitarian law. Some have warned that it may constitute a form of weaponized aid delivery, designed not to alleviate suffering but to control and punish.
On 26 May, one day before the GHF launch, the CEO of the aid scheme, Jake Wood, announced his resignation due to the impossibility of implementing the initiative without violating “humanitarian principles of humanity.”
Despite Canada’s historically staunch support for Israel, its own Department of Justice notes that structural investigations are typically triggered when credible evidence of war crimes emerges, and a sizable immigrant community exists in Canada that may assist with gathering evidence or testimony.
With the GHF-linked death toll mounting and warnings from legal experts and aid groups growing louder, the RCMP’s quiet investigation may yet play a significant role in international accountability efforts – unless, critics warn, Ottawa’s silence signals tacit approval.