'Catastrophic' situation 'cannot continue': Open letter from Trudeau, other PMs calling for Gaza ceasefire
CTV
Prime ministers of Canada, New Zealand and Australia released a letter renewing calls for an “urgent ceasefire” in Gaza on Friday morning.
Prime ministers of Canada, New Zealand and Australia released a letter renewing calls for an “urgent ceasefire” in Gaza on Friday morning.
The letter presses Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the latest ceasefire proposal backed by U.S. President Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council.
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue,” reads the letter.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the nine-month war. Netanyahu, recently having arrived in Washington, D.C. for talks with U.S. leaders, has signalled a deal to return Israeli hostages is “ripening.”
The leaders also renewed their positions on an eventual two-state solution, hedging that demand as a commitment “to working towards an irreversible path to achieving” it.
That two-state solution should not include Hamas at its helm, Trudeau and his counterparts wrote. The group, which Canada has designated a terrorist entity, should have “no role in the future governance of Gaza.”
The letter comes just days after Hamas and rival faction Fatah announced they have agreed to form government together for the Palestinian territories in a potential post-war vision. The two groups met in Beijing for talks. They released a letter unveiling the unity deal, but provided few details on when or how such a government would take form.
