Macron slams Gaza 'shame' as UK, Canada back Palestine — SkimNews
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- Emmanuel Macron told the UN General Assembly that Israel's restrictions on aid to Gaza should 'shame all of us,' criticizing what he called daily 'violations' in the occupied West Bank and warning that Israel's security depends on respecting its neighbors' sovereignty.
- Macron co-chaired a UNGA meeting on Palestinian statehood alongside UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Canadian PM Mark Carney, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
- Burnham warned that failing to deliver a two-state solution will 'corrode trust' in politics and announced the UK has banned trade with illegal Israeli settlements, calling Israel's E1 settlement project 'a deliberate attempt to block a two-state solution.'
- Carney pledged 100 million Canadian dollars ($71m) for Palestinians — 80% for direct humanitarian aid, 20% for peace and security including training Palestinian police in the occupied West Bank — and said Canada will restrict goods produced in settlements.
- Israeli forces killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza City despite a US-brokered October 'ceasefire'; more than 73,900 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including 1,399 since the ceasefire took effect.
- Canada joins 12 countries with settlement trade restrictions and has pledged more than 600 million Canadian dollars ($426m) in aid to Palestinian civilians since the war began.
Why it matters: France, the UK, and Canada are using the UNGA stage to escalate concrete diplomatic pressure on Israel — a UK settlement trade ban, Canadian settlement-goods restrictions, and a $71m Canadian aid pledge — while Israeli operations in Gaza have killed 1,399 people since the October ceasefire nominally took effect, exposing the gap between Western leaders' words and ground realities.
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