Canada will halt arms shipments to Israel, a government source announced yesterday, Tuesday, following a non-binding vote in parliament on the matter.

“We are in a situation where the reality on the ground no longer allows us” to export arms to Israel, the source said.

Canada’s parliament on Monday adopted a non-binding resolution in favor “immediate ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That resolution also called on the government to “suspend approvals and shipments” of weapons “to Israel.”

“After October 7th we have only approved licenses for non-lethal equipment. And, given the rapid development of the situation on the ground, we have not approved any permits since January 8,” said Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, who visited the Middle East last week.

The arms sales licenses approved by Canada after the start of the Gaza war were exclusively for exports of non-lethal equipment such as “communications equipment,” the government source explained.

Although he emphasizes that Israel has a right to defend itself, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has begun to adopt an increasingly critical stance towards Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which are being carried out in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

According to the radio station Radio-Canada, in 2022 Ottawa exported military equipment to Israel worth more than 21 million Canadian dollars, while in 2021 their value was 26 million Canadian dollars.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Canada’s decision “unfortunate” which “undermines Israel’s right to defend itself.” “History will judge this decision by the Canadian government harshly,” he said in a statement.

In the US, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders welcomed Canada’s decision in a post on X. “Given the humanitarian devastation in Gaza, most notably the widespread and worsening famine, the US should not contribute one cent more to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s war machine,” he commented.

In many countries there have been legal challenges against the supply of arms to Israel.

In Canada, a group of lawyers and citizens of Palestinian origin filed a lawsuit against the government in early March demanding the suspension of arms exports to Israel.