Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed news of the ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday and said the focus should now be on ensuring a two-state solution.
“Canada is willing to do everything possible to ensure the success of this agreement,” Trudeau told reporters during an unrelated news conference with Canada’s prime ministers.
“This ceasefire gives us hope. Hope that we can now turn our attention to a true and lasting political solution to this conflict: a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in security, protection and dignity,” he said. saying.
The deal comes more than 15 months into a war that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed more than 1,200 people and left about 250 hostage.
Canada has long called for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and an urgent flow of humanitarian aid. The country joined Australia and New Zealand. in July to demand a ceasefiresaying that the countries were “unequivocal in our condemnation of Hamas” but that civilians in Gaza “cannot be forced to pay the price.”
Last year, Canada too voted in favor of a non-binding United Nations resolution calling for a humanitarian pause, representing a departure from its long-standing practice of voting with Israel on major resolutions at the UN.
The agreement comes after months of on-again, off-again negotiations carried out by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States.
The agreement will come into effect on Sunday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at a news conference on Wednesday in Doha, where negotiations were taking place.
Israel and Hamas have reached a deal that calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the gradual release of hostages captured in the deadly Oct. 7 attacks, mediators said on Wednesday, according to reports from Reuters and The Associated Press.
The complex agreement outlines an initial six-week ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages taken by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Phase 1 of the deal, which will last 42 days, will include the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over 50 years of age.
Negotiations on the implementation of the second phase will begin on the 16th day of Phase 1 and are expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire, and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third phase is expected to address the return of all remaining bodies and the start of the reconstruction of Gaza, overseen by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys from both the outgoing US president, Joe Biden, as well as the president-elect, Donald Trump.
Biden confirmed the ceasefire agreement on Wednesday, adding that all American hostages will be released in the first phase of the ceasefire.
“The fighting in Gaza will stop and the hostages will soon return home to their families,” he said.
Israel has said about 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, but it is not clear how many are alive.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has said Israel’s strikes have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, making it the deadliest war in decades of conflict between the two. Israel’s campaign has also driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents from their homes and left much of the coastal enclave, including its healthcare infrastructure, in ruins.
