***MEDIA ADVISORY***
August 28, 2025
VIGIL & PRESS CONFERENCE
Canadian Healthcare Workers to Hold Vigil for Gaza’s Children – Demand Canada End Its Complicity in Israel’s Genocide of the Palestinian People
Canadian Weapons Fuel the Bombing and Canada’s Inaction Fuels the Famine — Healthcare Workers Demand an Immediate Two-Way Arms Embargo and the Opening of Gaza’s Crossings for International Medical Support and Aid
WHEN: Saturday, August 30, 2025 at 11:00 am (press conference at 11am with program to follow)–vigil continues until 6:00 pm EST
WHERE: Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (unceded Algonquin Anishinaabeg territory), Center Walkway
WHO: Ottawa Healthcare Professionals for Palestine (OHCP4P), Palestinian Canadian Congress (PCC), Canadian Muslim Healthcare Network (CMHN), Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), Doctors for Humanity, Eyewitness Gaza, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)
VIGIL FLYER: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNvfdCu4rPS/?
B-ROLL VIDEOS/PHOTOS: https://bit.ly/SaveGazaChildrenVigil (assets will be uploaded after the vigil concludes)
MEDIA CONTACT: Gur Tsabar, movementmediahub@gmail.com, 347.248.1390 cell
OTTAWA, ON- Canadian doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals will gather on Parliament Hill for a vigil to Save Gaza’s Children. Healthcare workers will lead a moment of silence in scrubs and white coats, followed by a press conference, testimonies, and poetry. The vigil will continue until 6:00 pm, maintaining a visible presence on the Hill.
The vigil comes amid mounting evidence of the devastating toll on Gaza’s children. A peer-reviewed Lancet study published in July 2024 estimated the true death toll at more than 186,000. It is safe to conclude that this number has significantly increased since Israel’s blockade of food, water and medicine in March 2025. In July 2025, Médecins Sans Frontières reported that 48 % of those killed by blast injuries were children, and 40 % were under 10 years old. As early as December 2023, doctors in Gaza were forced to coin a new term: “WCNSF” Wounded Child, No Surviving Family — for children arriving at hospitals alone after their entire families were killed.
On August 22, 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed that famine is now present in Gaza, calling it a “man-made catastrophe.” His announcement follows months of warnings, including from WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain, who said that aid must be delivered “immediately and without obstruction.” Despite these urgent calls, malnutrition continues to claim lives every day.
Meanwhile, international organizations continue to condemn Israel’s deliberate obstruction of aid. The Israeli-created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been described as a “death trap” by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Amnesty International has called its operations “a complete and utter failure, with Palestinians paying the ultimate price.” According to the UN’s human rights spokesperson, Thameen Al Kheetan, more than 1,857 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking food, the majority at GHF distribution points, since May 2025. At the same time, 6,000 aid trucks remain stalled at Gaza’s borders. Canada’s airdrops are a token gesture at best and may worsen chaos and insecurity on the ground. Aid groups warn these piecemeal efforts are insufficient and may even be harmful. Canada must stop focusing on symbolic air deliveries and instead join global pressure for Israel to immediately open Gaza’s land crossings for large-scale, safe, and sustained humanitarian access.
In addition to food and medicine being blocked, Israel has repeatedly denied entry to international medical workers and humanitarian staff, preventing them from reaching hospitals that have been bombed, overrun, or cut off from basic supplies. This denial of access has left Gaza’s collapsing health system without desperately needed reinforcements, costing countless lives.
At the same time, Canada continues to arm Israel, despite Prime Minister Carney and Foreign Minister Anand’s claims to the contrary. The deception is now undeniable after findings from both the recently unveiled Arms Embargo Now report and the subsequently leaked Library of Parliament report confirmed that Canada is continuing to arm Israel. The Canadian government must answer why it is acceptable for munitions to continue to be shipped to Israel amidst a genocide, weeks after Minister Anand denied (without evidence) the government’s role in arming Israel’s genocide.
This vigil is our way of saying we refuse to accept a world where children are bombed, starved, and orphaned — with our government complicit and actively involved in the suffering.
Healthcare Workers’ Demands:
- Condemn Israel’s war of extermination as genocide
- Enact a full, transparent two-way arms embargo and disclose all permits and exports since Jan. 8, 2024.
- Break the siege: demand that Israel open Gaza’s land crossings, and restore access for UNRWA and the World Food Programme
- Suspend all trade agreements with Israel until genocide, occupation, and apartheid end
- Investigate and prosecute institutions and individuals complicit in war crimes
- Demand the release and protection of all healthcare professionals imprisoned by IDF
- Urgently evacuate sick and injured children for lifesaving treatment by facilitating a visa process and coordination of all levels of government
- Call for unrestricted entry and protection of international medical and humanitarian workers into Gaza to reinforce the collapsed health system
- Recognize Palestinian statehood unconditionally.
