Canada says Israel’s ‘horrific’ Gaza City offensive puts hostages in greater danger

Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza along the coastal road toward the south, as Israel announced an expanded operation in Gaza City, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

OTTAWA — Ottawa is calling Israel’s latest ground offensive in Gaza City “horrific” and says it’s making the release of hostages still held by Hamas less likely.

Israel escalated its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. It says it is targeting what used to be the most populated city in the territory so that it can prevent Hamas from launching further attacks.

The military escalation has met with widespread international condemnation as the Palestinian territory grapples both with famine and with Israel’s efforts to move civilians in the enclave toward the Egyptian border.

“Israel’s new ground offensive in Gaza City is horrific. It worsens the humanitarian crisis and jeopardizes the release of the hostages,” says a Global Affairs Canada post on the platform X.

“The Government of Israel must adhere to international law. Canada stands with international partners in urging an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages.”

Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed replied to the Tuesday posting by saying his country is “consistently adhering to its obligations under the international conventions” and pointing to an Israeli military website.

“Horrific is the consistent neglect of (Global Affairs Canada) to mention the fact that the Israeli hostages are held in the utmost inhumane conditions by Hamas in Gaza. For well over 700 days,” he wrote.

Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed Monday he will proceed with plans to recognize Palestinian statehood. While the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada called last month for the matter to be debated in Parliament, no party has tabled a motion on Palestinian statehood this week.

In a Monday readout of a virtual meeting on the Middle East that was chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, Carney’s office said he “reiterated Canada’s intent to recognize the State of Palestine in advance of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly” next week.

The readout noted that Canada has made this move conditional on the Palestinian Authority committing to reforms and general elections next year in the West Bank -- elections in which “Hamas can play no part.”

Neither Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre nor his party’s foreign policy critic have issued statements on the Israel-Hamas war this week.

NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said Tuesday he questions whether Carney will follow through on affirming Palestine statehood.

“I still have doubts as to whether the Carney government will move forward with this position,” he said in French at a press conference. “The Liberal government doesn’t have the courage of other governments.”

Canadian and foreign activists have held a series of press conferences on Parliament Hill this week to urge Ottawa to state that Israel is carrying out a genocide and to impose tougher measures against Israel.

A team of experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council concluded Tuesday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has rejected that report.

The report cited Israel’s president saying there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and Israeli policies that prevent births and forcibly transfer people.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday that a determination of whether Israel is committing genocide should be based on a thorough legal process where parties can “make submissions based on evidence.”

“This is not just an emotional question, but also a legal one,” he told reporters.

Carney has said he will let the International Court of Justice determine whether a genocide is taking place.

Emilio Dabed of the Legal Centre for Palestine said Canada still has an obligation to act. At a Parliament Hill press conference on Wednesday, he said some MPs have a mistaken belief that they have no legal obligation to act under the Genocide Convention until an international court affirms that a genocide is taking place.

“The only requirement to trigger the obligation to prevent genocide is that the state in question learns of -- or should normally have learned of -- the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed,” Dabed said, citing ICJ rulings related to wars in the former Yugoslavia.

He said the ICJ has ruled it “would be absurd” to say the obligation to prevent genocide only comes into play when genocide is already being perpetrated.

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand convened Arab ambassadors in Ottawa to discuss how to best work toward a ceasefire in Gaza and the resumption of humanitarian aid.

Anand said last week that “we are evaluating the relationship with Israel” -- a comment that attracted notice in Israeli media. Anand has not explained what that evaluation might entail.

Anand’s comment came after Israel conducted a strike on Qatar last week targeting Hamas officials who were in Doha for ceasefire talks with Israel.

Bloc Quebecois foreign affairs critic Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe is calling on Ottawa to impose sanctions on Israel after the European Union announced plans to slap tariffs on some Israeli goods.

“The painful and intolerable images coming out of Gaza must elicit a strong response from the Canadian government,” he wrote in a French-language statement.

“While Gaza burns, while tens of thousands of women, men, children and families are forced to move.”

At a conference in Toronto organized by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz this past weekend, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin lamented the growing political polarization over the conflict.

“Word-policing has really trivialized and stunted our ability to talk about finding a path to peace,” she said Sunday. “It’s too easy to lose someone after a few words.

“Even this many thousands of kilometres away from Israel and Palestine, Canadians with differing points of views are having too hard of a time coming together, to listen and to learn and to test ideas. And that’s a tremendous loss.”

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press