TORONTO (AP) — Canada will recognize a Palestinian state in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Wednesday, the latest in a series of symbolic announcements that are part of a broader global shift against Israel’s policies in Gaza.
Carney convened a Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in the battered Palestinian territory. He said it came after he discussed the crisis with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who announced a similar move on Tuesday.
Leaders are under mounting pressure over the issue as scenes of hunger in Gaza have horrified so many across the world. “The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” Carney said.
“Canada intends to recognize the State of Palestine at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025,” Carney said — a move that he said was predicated on the Palestinian Authority “holding general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state.”
Carney said he’s “not in any way or shape minimizing that scale of that task,” though he added it was clearly “not a possibility in the near term.”
“Much has to happen before a democratic viable state is established,” he said.
A mounting push
Pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood has increased since French President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that his country will become the first major Western power to recognize a Palestinian state in September. Carney said he spoke to Macron on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Starmer said Britain would recognize a state of Palestine before the U.N. General Assembly in September, “unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Carney said Canada is working with other states “to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution, to not allow the facts on the ground, deaths on the ground, the settlements on the ground, the expropriations on the ground, to get to such an extent that this is not possible.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rejects a two-state solution on nationalistic and security grounds.
A symbolic gesture
As with France and the United Kingdom, Canadian recognition would be largely symbolic, but it’s part of a push by countries against Israel and could increase diplomatic pressure for an end to the conflict.
More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including a dozen in Europe. Macron’s announcement last week made France the first Group of Seven country — and the largest in Europe — to say it would take that step.
Canada has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has said recognition should come as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.
Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, told The Associated Press following Carney’s announcement that Canada is a “dear friend but at the moment it is an estranged friend” because it “stopped putting itself in Israel’s shoes.”
“We are hearing the world very well, loud and clear. … I don’t think that in the current global atmosphere there is any understanding” about the suffering of hostages held by Gaza’s militant Hamas group.
Unabating war and suffering
Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive and held in Gaza. Most of the rest of the hostages were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
A total of 89 children have died of malnutrition since the war began in Gaza. Israel denies there is any starvation in Gaza, rejecting accounts to the contrary from witnesses, U.N. agencies and aid groups, and says the focus on hunger undermines ceasefire efforts.
The Israeli ambassador blamed Hamas for the length of the nearly two-year war, saying that “in Gaza we’ve come across the worst possible network of terrorist infrastructure that exists any where around the world.
“We need this to end for the sake of all of us because we will remain there and the Palestinians will remain there,” Moed also said. “All of us understand that.”
A White House official said President Donald Trump’s position on Palestinian statehood would not change and that he is instead focused on providing food aid in Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s stand.
“As the President stated, he would be rewarding Hamas if he recognizes a Palestinian state, and he doesn’t think they should be rewarded,” the official said.
