EDMONTON — Alberta’s deputy premier says his schedule during a tour in Israel had to change quickly when rockets began falling.
Thomas Lukaszuk has been in the country as part of a tour of Poland and Israel called “From Compassion to Action” which is led by the Friends of Simon Weisenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies.
Lukaszuk tweeted on Sunday stating that he was involved in discussions on Israel’s borders when missiles began falling from Gaza.
He says in the tweet that the plans for the day had to be “altered in a hurry.”
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said five rockets and mortars struck southern Israel by early Sunday local time, while Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said an Israeli air strike killed one Palestinian man and wounded another.
Lukaszuk tweeted that he continued with a tour of the West Bank, noting that security was tight at the Jerusalem border crossing because of the rockets.
Upon leaving the West Bank he said his vehicle was pelted with rocks.
“No issues, but this is the daily reality here,” Lukaszuk said in the tweet.
The Friends of Simon Weisenthal Centre says 10 police chiefs from across Canada, politicians, community leaders and activists are on the trip.
In Israel, the trip has included visits to security installations and meetings with officials and citizens, while in Poland the group toured the Majdanek and Auschwitz concentration camps.
The Israeli military said it targeted a militant squad during the airstrike of Gaza. It said it later launched another air attack that also targeted a rocket launching site.
The hostilities disrupted an informal truce that went into effect Wednesday after two days of rocket and mortar barrages and airstrikes.