Gaza latest: Canada joins UK and France in plan to recognise Palestinian state while starvation deaths rise

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered to collect aid amid rising concerns over mass starvation in the Gaza Strip.

The “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out” in the enclave, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said on Tuesday.

Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation, including “increasingly stringent blockades” by Israel, the group said.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that he had discussed the crisis in Gaza with his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, and reiterated his government’s strong support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Starmer this week said Britain was prepared to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in response to growing public anger over the images of starving children in Gaza.

Australia has not yet made a formal decision to recognise Palestine, though Mr Albanese supports Israel’s right to exist within secure borders and Palestinians’ right to demand their own state.

In a statement, Mr Albanese said they agreed on the importance of using international momentum to secure a ceasefire, the release of all Israeli hostages and the acceleration of aid.

They also want to ensure the militant group Hamas does not play a role in a future Palestinian state.

Israel has criticised France, Britain and Canada, saying their decision will reward Hamas.

US president Donald Trump has reacted to Canada’s support for the Palestinian state, saying a trade deal Ottawa is under threat.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Two resolutions that would have blocked America’s arms sales to Israel in response to civilian casualties in Gaza were blocked in the US Senate on Wednesday, although they garnered more support than similar measures earlier this year.

The resolutions would have blocked the sale of $675m in bombs and shipments of 20,000 assault rifles.

The two resolutions were introduced by senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent aligned with Democrats. They failed by 73 to 24 and 70 to 27 in the 100-member chamber in voting late on Wednesday night.

Similar measures, also introduced by Mr Sanders, failed by 82-15 and 83-15 in April.

All of the votes for the resolutions came from Democrats, with all of president Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans opposed.

Mr Sanders said in a statement he was pleased that a majority of the Democratic caucus had backed the effort.

“The tide is turning. The American people do not want to spend billions to starve children in Gaza,” Mr Sanders said. “The Democrats are moving forward on this issue, and I look forward to Republican support in the near future.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was one of the Democrats who opposed the Sanders-backed resolutions in April but voted for them this time.

Mr Shaheen said in a statement that Israel has a right to defend its citizens, but added: “It is clear that the Government of Israel has not conducted its military operations in Gaza with the necessary care required by international humanitarian law. It is also clear that the Government of Israel has failed to allow adequate humanitarian assistance into Gaza, resulting in unbelievable suffering.”

Israel could threaten to annex parts of Gaza to increase pressure on the militant group Hamas, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday, an idea that would deal a blow to Palestinian hopes of statehood on land Israel now occupies.

The comment by security cabinet member Zeev Elkin came a day after Britain said it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps to relieve suffering in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire in the war with Hamas.

Accusing Hamas of trying to drag out ceasefire talks to gain Israeli concessions, Mr Elkin told public broadcaster Kan that Israel may give the group an ultimatum to reach a deal before further expanding its military actions.

“The most painful thing for our enemy is losing lands,” he said. “A clarification to Hamas that the moment they play games with us they will lose land that they will never get back would be a significant pressure tool.”

It comes amid pressure building on Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where a global hunger monitor has warned that a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding.

Mediation efforts aimed at reaching a deal that would secure a 60-day ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas ground to a halt last week, with the sides trading blame for the impasse.

Israel has strongly rejected Canada’s shift in position to recognise a Palestinian state, saying the decision would be a “reward for Hamas”.

The Israeli foreign ministry said it rejects the statement by the prime minister of Canada.

“The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” the foreign ministry said.

Canada’s announcement came after the UK and France said they would recognise a Palestinian state at September’s UN General Assembly meeting if the fighting in Gaza, part of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, had not stopped by then.

Prime minister Mark Carney told reporters that the reality on the ground, including starvation of people in Gaza, meant “the prospect of a Palestinian state is literally receding before our eyes.”

“Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza,” he said.

At least 48 Palestinians have been killed and several others injured in firing after people desperate to get food at a crossing controlled by Israeli forces gathered, according to hospital staff.

The Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the dead and the wounded were among crowds massed at the Zikim Crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which controls the crossing.

Videos showed wounded people being ferried away from the scene of the shooting in wooden carts, as well as crowds of people carrying bags of flour.

Al-Saraya Field Hospital, where critical cases are stabilised before transfer to main hospitals, said it received more than 100 dead and wounded.

Fares Awad, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service, said some bodies were taken to other hospitals, indicating the toll could rise.

Israeli strikes and gunfire had earlier killed at least 46 Palestinians overnight and into Wednesday, most of them among crowds seeking food, health officials said.

Another seven Palestinians, including a child, died of malnutrition-related causes, according to the Gaza health ministry.

While Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, settlements expanded in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, their population rising from 250,000 in 1993 to 700,000 three decades later, according to Israeli organisation Peace Now. Palestinians say this undermines the basis of a viable state.

Jewish settlement in the West Bank has accelerated sharply since the start of the Gaza war.

During the Second Intifada two decades ago, Israel also constructed a barrier that it said was intended to stop Palestinian suicide bombers from entering its cities. Palestinians call it a land grab.

The PA led by President Mahmoud Abbas administers islands of West Bank land enveloped by a zone of Israeli control comprising 60 percent of the territory, including the Jordanian border and the settlements – arrangements set out in the Oslo Accords.

Netanyahu’s government is the most right-wing in Israeli history and includes religious nationalists who draw support from settlers. The far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has said there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.

Netanyahu said on 7 July he wanted peace with the Palestinians but described any future independent state as a potential platform to destroy Israel, saying control of security must remain with Israel.

Hamas won elections in 2006 and a year later drove forces loyal to Abbas out of Gaza, fragmenting the territories where the Palestinians hope to establish their state.

Hamas and Israel have fought repeated wars since then, culminating in the attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that ignited the current Gaza war.

Our Political Correspondent Millie Cooke reports: