A war cemetery in Gaza that holds the graves of Canadian servicemen has been caught up in the conflict, and the families of those buried there are now seeking answers from both Canada and Israel. The site, a resting place for soldiers from a far earlier era, has become an unexpected casualty of the fighting, leaving relatives an ocean away worried about the fate of the graves.
The cemetery itself had stood for decades. It held the dead of two world wars and was well tended thanks to the work of four generations of the Palestinian Jaraday family, who cared for the site on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. For a long time it was, in effect, an oasis of calm amid a troubled region.
The Canadian connection sits in a small plot at the southeast corner of the main Gaza War Cemetery. The story of how Canadians came to be buried there traces back to 1956, when Israel invaded newly independent Egypt with the support of Britain and France, drawing Canadian peacekeepers into the wider crisis along what is now the boundary between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Among those laid to rest were Adrian Bonds, killed by a landmine in the no man's land between the Israeli and Egyptian armies, and Flying Officer Paul Picard, an air force pilot who died after his plane crashed and caught fire during a dangerous resupply mission. In those days, Canada did not repatriate its fallen soldiers, instead burying them where they died.
In total, 22 Canadians are buried at the cemetery. For years, their families took comfort in the knowledge that their loved ones had a quiet and well cared for resting place, far away but maintained with evident care, even as the surrounding region went through repeated upheaval.
That sense of reassurance began to unravel in 2024. Satellite pictures show a rapid deterioration of the site following the arrival of the Israeli military, including earth-moving operations inside the cemetery and the presence of Israeli tanks. The images turned a distant memorial into a fresh source of anguish for the families.
Now those relatives are pressing for answers from Canada and Israel about what has happened to the graves and what will be done to protect them. The episode also revives an older grievance, as Canada changed its policy only in the years that followed and stopped burying soldiers overseas, a shift that came too late for the families whose relatives remain in Gaza.