BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Eight members of a Canadian family vacationing in Lebanon were killed Sunday in an Israeli air raid that hit a Lebanese town on the border with Israel, Canadian and Lebanese officials said.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said six other Canadians were in critical condition.
Lebanese security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to the media, said the victims were members of a single family of Lebanese origin and were killed at home in their family's village of Aitaroun, which abuts the border.
TV stations said the family had come from Canada to spend their summer holiday in the town.
MacKay, who was quoted by The Canadian Press, said the government is putting commercial ships in place to evacuate its citizens by sea.
The victims were not identified.
The killings came on the fifth day of an Israeli barrage of Lebanon that began when the Shiite guerrilla group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid. The fighting has killed at least 148 in Lebanon and 23 in Israel.
Seven Canadians were killed, and six others were in critical condition, after an Israeli raid in Lebanon on Sunday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay announced. The deaths were believed to be the first recent casualties in Lebanon from any G8 country. 

Associated Press reports anonymous Lebanese officials saying the family of Canadians were killed at their home in the town of Aitaroun. Many Lebanese citizens have emigrated to Canada and often return to spend their summers in the south of Lebanon. 

Sixteen thousand Canadians have registered with the embassy in Beirut, but MacKay said the number of those present could be as high as 40,000.  "We're calling for restraint in all sectors right now and hope to be able to have those ships in place and citizens moving out of Lebanon as quickly as possible." MacKay said. 

Parliament Hill demonstrators in Ottawa on Sunday protested the Harper government's position regarding the ongoing strikes.  One placard declared, "Killing children is not a 'measured response'," referring to the G8 statement released earlier.

During a protest in Montréal on Sunday, one woman said she had just been informed that two of her family members were killed in the Israeli air strike. The unnamed woman screamed "My father, my uncle — they're dead. What's happening?" She said her family members were in the Middle East for a summer vacation.

The deaths occurred on the fifth day of Israel's military attacks in Lebanon, instigated by the capture of 2 Israeli soldiers and killing of 8 others by the Shiite Hezbollah in a cross-border attack. The fighting has caused at least 148 fatalities in Lebanon and 23 in Israel.