Canada says ‘the war in Gaza must end now’ alongside 24 other countries

The foreign ministers are calling on Israel to lift all restrictions on aid delivery and to enable the United Nations and humanitarian groups to do their work safely.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and 24 of her counterparts abroad have signed a joint statement saying “the war in Gaza must end now,” while calling on Israel to stop displacing Palestinians.

The signatories — who include the foreign ministers of France, Japan and the U.K., and the European Union commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management — called Israel’s aid distribution system “dangerous.”

The ministers also condemned Hamas for continuing to hold hostages captured from Israel in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and called for their immediate release.

They said it’s “horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.”

That death toll is based on figures released by the UN human rights office and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,” the ministers wrote.

The ministers decry proposals by Israeli officials to concentrate Palestinians in Gaza into one city.

“Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law,” the statement notes.