(Ottawa) Justin Trudeau raises his voice against the Jewish state, calling on it to show “utmost restraint” in the Gaza Strip.
The Prime Minister made his sharpest remarks against Israel since the October 7 attacks on Tuesday afternoon.
“I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint. The deaths of women, of children, of babies, must stop,” he said on the sidelines of an announcement in British Columbia.
The violence must stop “urgently,” continued Justin Trudeau.
He also condemned Hamas, calling on the terrorist group to “stop using Palestinians as human shields” and to release all the hostages “immediately and unconditionally”.
Justin Trudeau refrained from going so far as to demand a cease-fire as French President Emmanuel Macron recently did, with whom he had a telephone interview on Monday.
But as for the question of restraint, he said what his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, had not wanted to comment on until a few days ago.
The Prime Minister also suggested that the “humanitarian pauses” requested for several weeks were not enough.
Because Palestinian civilians in the enclave do not have access to enough humanitarian aid, and the information coming from the United Nations is worrying, he argued.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) may have to cease its operations in Gaza due to a lack of fuel.
The fuel allows hospitals in the enclave to operate. Israel maintains that hospitals, among others, are Hamas hideouts.
Voting at the UN
The war that broke out after the attacks perpetrated by Hamas did not change Ottawa’s position, which is that of a two-state solution, Justin Trudeau reiterated.
But at the United Nations last Saturday, Canada voted against a resolution maintaining that Israeli occupations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were illegal.
The Prime Minister did not see it as a contradiction, but rather as a way to combat anti-Semitism.
“Canada has long recognized that we need a two-state solution – a prosperous, secure Palestinian state alongside a prosperous and secure Israel,” he said.
“It is also our policy not to accept that Israel is continually targeted, and isolated, at the United Nations, because it goes against our fight against anti-Semitism around the world,” he added.