Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'm very grateful for this opportunity to speak with you today about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This issue has persisted for decades and we've all witnessed the tragic consequences of the latest outbreak of violence. There were 253 Palestinians killed in Gaza and 27 in West Bank, along with 13 Israelis killed. As mentioned by the Prime Minister and again in our recent speech to the UN General Assembly, this included families, women and children, and should serve as a stark reminder that we each must collectively do more to prevent the violence and address the underlying causes.

We were horrified by the over 4,100 rockets fired at Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which are listed terrorist organizations in Canada, and we were appalled by the violence that took place in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank, a situation that we continue to monitor very closely.

We very much welcome the ceasefire and have turned our attention to reinforcing it. We need to have a constructive dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians, supported by concrete projects, in order to get to a place where they can both live in peace and security, with dignity, without fear and with their human rights fully respected. To this end, as a part of the Prime Minister's announcement last week, there's a specific $5-million allocation for peacebuilding.

We're also heavily engaged in addressing the emergency needs in Gaza. Prior to the conflict, we were already very concerned about the humanitarian situation in terms of food, clean water, medicine, electricity and sustainable livelihoods. Unfortunately, the situation has worsened significantly, first with COVID and the considerable strain the pandemic placed on the Gazan health care system, and then with the aftermath of the 11-day conflict.

The UN issued a consolidated appeal in this regard and, in response, the government just announced a contribution of $25 million for humanitarian, development and peacebuilding support. Ten million dollars will respond to the UN consolidated appeal for immediate humanitarian needs, $10 million is focused on recovery and rebuilding over the next nine months and $5 million is for the aforementioned projects to inculcate peace, stability and greater social cohesion among Israelis and Palestinians.

These efforts, combined with those of UN agencies on the ground, dedicated NGOs and the work of other donors, will strongly support the ceasefire and address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. We're working with partners now to get help to those who need it the most.

While critical, these measures only help to address some of the immediate problems. The underlying severe pressures still remain, and we must work towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including through the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. This is profoundly difficult.

We fully recognize and strongly support Israel's right to assure its own security, and this comes with a significant responsibility to act in accordance with human rights and international humanitarian law. We remain very concerned about settlements, evictions and demolitions, which are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are serious obstacles to peace. We're particularly worried about the current cases in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.

Moreover, all of the final status issues—borders, Jerusalem, refugees, security and recognition—need to be addressed. We support direct negotiations between the parties so that these complex issues can be resolved through dialogue.

This is our best path forward: negotiations, supplemented by urgent, concrete support on the ground to reinforce hope and build a more peaceful future for all Israelis and Palestinians.

Thank you.

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