Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday accused the Israeli government of failing to prevent a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and of violating international law by denying aid.
In a post on X, Carney said Israel’s control of aid distribution must be replaced by “comprehensive provision” of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations.
“Canada calls on all sides to negotiate an immediate ceasefire in good faith,” he said.
“We reiterate our calls for Hamas to immediately release all the hostages, and for the Israeli government to respect the territorial integrity of the West Bank and Gaza.”
Israel’s parliament on Wednesday approved a symbolic motion to annex the West Bank. Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, which is seen internationally as the only realistic way to resolve the conflict.
Carney said Canada supports a two-state solution, with Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand set to attend a UN conference next week in New York on the issue.
The Centre for Jewish and Israel Affairs said Hamas does not want a ceasefire agreement and wants to retain power at any cost.
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“This is why we see Hamas thanking governments — including Canada’s — for statements that embolden it to continue subjecting both Gazans and Israelis to further suffering,” said the centre’s chief executive, Noah Shack, in a statement.
“At the NATO summit last month, Prime Minister Carney was clear: a two-state solution requires the Palestinian leadership to recognize the right of the Jewish nation to live safely in our ancestral homeland.”
Anand said it is “inexcusable” that women and children in Gaza are without adequate access to food and water.
“The Israeli government must allow the uninhibited flow of humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians, who are in urgent need,” she said on X.
Their comments came on the same day French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would recognize Palestine as a state.
Macron said in a post on X that he would formalize the decision at the UN General Assembly in September.
“The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote.
The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage.
France is now the biggest western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that recognizing Palestinian statehood should be part of a wider plan for lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis.
Following Macron’s comments Thursday, Starmer said Friday he was working with allies on the steps that were needed for peace in the conflict in Gaza.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis,” he said in a statement after speaking with the leaders of France and Germany.
Canada was one of more than two dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, that issued a joint statement earlier this week calling for an immediate end to the conflict in Gaza.
The leaders of the so-called E3 group of France, Britain and Germany called again on Friday for an end to the war in Gaza through a an immediate ceasefire and said they were committed to supporting diplomatic efforts by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
“The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now…We firmly oppose all efforts to impose Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the leaders of the three European countries said in a joint statement.
— With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
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