Four Canadians are now reported to be missing, senior officials say

Canadian flights evacuating citizens, permanent residents and their families from Israel began Thursday with two military planes carrying people from Tel Aviv to Athens.

The Canadian government has implemented an evacuation plan to retrieve Canadians stranded in Israel following devastating attacks by Hamas over the weekend, and amid escalating violence in the region as Israel strikes the Gaza Strip.

The flights are taking passengers to Athens, federal ministers said earlier in the week. An Air Canada flight leaving from Athens tomorrow is expected to bring Canadians to Toronto.

Senior government officials told reporters Thursday that around 5,000 people have registered with Ottawa as present in the region. The government says it has collected information from 1,600 people looking to leave the region, 800 of them in Israel. Not all of those people will be looking to fly out on military planes, the officials said.