Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced C$100 million in new assistance for Palestinians, as Ottawa steps up its response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank.

Carney made the announcement on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying the funding was intended to help preserve the possibility of a two-state solution and support Palestinians facing what he described as “immense human suffering.”

The package includes C$80 million in humanitarian assistance, with the remainder directed toward development and security-related initiatives, including additional funding for a multi-year program to train Palestinian police in the West Bank.

Canada has committed hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to Palestinians since the escalation of the conflict in October 2023. Canadian government figures show that Ottawa's total international assistance for Palestinian civilians has surpassed C$500 million, with funding directed toward emergency medical care, food, water, sanitation, shelter and protection services.

Alongside the aid announcement, Carney criticized Israel's planned E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, warning that continued settlement expansion threatens the prospects for a political resolution and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.

Canada has joined France, the United Kingdom and other countries in opposing settlement expansion and supporting restrictions on trade involving goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a joint statement issued earlier this month, Canada and several European countries said Israeli settlement expansion and settler violence were undermining the possibility of a two-state solution. The statement specifically cited Israel's E1 settlement project and called for an end to settlement expansion and measures that could amount to the annexation of Palestinian land.

The E1 area, located east of Jerusalem, has long been a major point of international concern because development there could further fragment Palestinian territory in the West Bank and complicate the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state.

Canada's latest pledge comes as Palestinians in Gaza continue to face severe humanitarian needs following the prolonged war, while conditions in the occupied West Bank have also deteriorated amid settlement expansion and rising settler violence.

Ottawa itself has acknowledged the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank, calling for the rapid and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance and the protection of civilians under international humanitarian law.

Canada has also maintained support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which provides essential services including healthcare, education, water and sanitation to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.

The new funding and Canada's increasingly critical position on Israeli settlement expansion mark a further effort by Ottawa to support Palestinian civilians while backing a political framework that would establish a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Carney said Canada's measures were aimed at preserving the possibility of a two-state solution, as international pressure continues to grow over Israel's settlement policies and the humanitarian consequences of the war in Gaza. (ILKHA)