OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada intends to recognize a Palestinian state ahead of September’s United Nations General Assembly.
He accused the Israeli government of an “ongoing failure” to stop the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
“The deepening suffering of civilians leaves no room for delay in coordinated international action to support peace, security and the dignity of all human life,” Carney said Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa.
The recognition is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to reform its governance and to hold general elections in 2026 “in which Hamas can play no part,” Carney said.
The prime minister said he outlined the conditions with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of his announcement.
Carney also reiterated that Hamas must immediately release all hostages and Hamas must disarm.
Israel denounced Carney’s statement.
“The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” the Israel Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Carney made the announcement after convening a rare summer Cabinet meeting to discuss the decision. The pledge is in lockstep with France and the United Kingdom, and is considered a significant shift in Canada’s foreign policy.
Earlier this week, the prime minister called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “deplorable.”
The U.N. World Food Programme and UNICEF have warned that food consumption and nutrition indicators in Gaza have reached their worst levels since the conflict began after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Gaza is on the brink of famine,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday. “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes.”
Canada joined European leaders in recent weeks in expressing a harder tone toward Israel in a bid to expedite humanitarian aid.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 in their October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. Hamas still holds about 50 hostages, with at least 20 believed to remain alive. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed around 60,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
French President Emmanuel Macron was the first to announce he would recognize Palestinian statehood. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer followed similarly on Tuesday after meeting with his Cabinet.
He pledged the U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes “substantive steps” to end the crisis in Gaza and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution.
“Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to the U.K. announcement.
Starmer discussed his decision with Carney on Tuesday. On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called on more countries to do the same.
Canada is the third G7 nation to make such a declaration — actions President Donald Trump has previously criticized.
“You could make a case that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded,” Trump said on Air Force One on his way back from Scotland to the U.S. after meeting with Starmer, and making a deal with the European Union.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was in New York to attend the United Nations conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
During the two-day conference, which Israel and the U.S. boycotted, Anand announced a new humanitarian aid package, including C$30 million to help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and C$10 million to the Palestinian Authority to make governance reforms for eventual statehood.
She also met with counterparts from Norway, France, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.
Canada’s long-standing position has been support for the two-state solution, including the creation of an independent, democratic, viable and sovereign Palestinian state that excludes Hamas from governance.
Prior to the Wednesday evening announcement, Anand joined 14 of her counterparts — including France, Spain and Australia — in a joint statement that expressed a willingness to consider recognizing a Palestinian state.
The leaders urged other countries that have yet to recognize a Palestinian state to do the same — either before or during the U.N. gathering in September.
Eleven out of 27 EU member countries have recognized Palestinian statehood, including Spain, Romania, Sweden, Ireland and Bulgaria.
