Prime Minister Mark Carney on X reiterated Canadian support for a two-state solution.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney is calling on Israel to give up control of aid delivery to Gaza as reports grow of mass starvation in the territory.
“Canada condemns the Israeli government’s failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” Mr. Carney said in a post on X Thursday.
“Israel’s control of aid distribution must be replaced by comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance led by international organizations,” he said.
Substantial amounts of Canadian assistance, he said, are in the hands of aid organizations but cannot reach Gazans.
“Many of these are holding significant Canadian-funded aid which has been blocked from delivery to starving civilians. This denial of humanitarian aid is a violation of international law.”
He also reiterated Canadian support for a two-state solution, adding that he would be sending Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to a New York conference on the matter next week.
“Canada supports a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians. Canada will work intensively in all fora to further that end, including through the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the UN High-Level Conference on a Two-State Solution in New York next week,” Mr. Carney wrote.
“Canada calls on all sides to negotiate an immediate ceasefire in good faith. 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.”
Gaza is suffering mass starvation caused by a blockade on aid into the Palestinian enclave, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
He spoke after an appeal by more than 100 aid agencies warning of hunger in Gaza while tonnes of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside the territory.
“I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear,” the WHO chief told a virtual press conference live-streamed from Geneva. “This is because of [the] blockade.”
Gaza’s food stocks have run out since Israel, at war with Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked the country in October, 2023, cut off all supplies to the territory in March and then lifted that blockade in May − but with restrictions that it says are needed to prevent aid from being diverted to militant groups.
As a result, international aid agencies say that only a trickle of what is needed is currently reaching people in Gaza.
Israel says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by Hamas. It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s 2.2 million people.
With a report from Reuters