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 also said. He added that the intention is 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.”
“Clearly that’s not a possibility in the near term,” the prime minister said, adding that Canada has joined the efforts of other states to “preserve the possibility of a two state solution."
Much has to happen before a democratic viable state is established,” he said.
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Pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood has mounted 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.
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."
It seems highly unlikely that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could meet the conditions, which cut to the heart of the most intractable issues in the conflict. Netanyahu rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds.
Israel’s foreign ministry later said it rejected the British statement.
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, said Israel “will not bow to the distorted campaign of international pressure against it.”
“We will not sacrifice our very existence by permitting the imposition of a jihadist state on our ancestral homeland that seeks our annihilation,” he said in a statement, a referring to the Palestinian militant group Hamas that seized power in Gaza in 2007.
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.
”Recognizing a Palestinian state in the absence of accountable government, functioning institutions, or benevolent leadership, rewards and legitimizes the monstrous barbarity of Hamas,” Moed said. “It punishes Israeli and Palestinian victims of Hamas, vindicates Hamas.”
