Canada pledges $100M for Palestinians facing settler violence, humanitarian crisis

Canada pledges $100M for Palestinians facing settler violence, humanitarian crisis

Foreign affairs minister announced funding in Paris

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announced on Friday $100 million in federal funding to support Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

She unveiled the funding in Paris, where Western leaders are meeting to discuss mounting challenges preventing a future two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Anand's office says the funding will go to United Nations agencies, the Red Cross and others to address what it calls a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank by extremist Israeli settlers.

The new funding, which brings Canada's support for Palestinians to $500 million since late 2023, will go to addressing basic needs such as medical assistance, food and water, and to peace and stabilization initiatives.

Amnesty report accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in West Bank amid expanded settlements

Anand met her British and Australian counterparts on Thursday and all three pledged roughly $1.8 million over three years for a peace fund to empower Palestinians and Israelis who don't hold hardline views.

The government continues to face criticism from Palestinian advocates who argue Canada does not do enough to call out Israel, and from Jewish advocacy groups which say Ottawa's criticism of Israel fuels antisemitism.