Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped into Zawaida in central Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

OTTAWA — Airdrops of Canadian aid into Gaza are underway as nations react to Ottawa's pledge to join allies in recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Jordan is helping to airdrop Canadian aid and has posted a photo of aid pallets with Canadian flags taped to them. Prime Minister Mark Carney also posted a video of those pallets being dropped from a Jordanian military aircraft.

Israel has slightly loosened its tight restrictions on food and medicine reaching the Gaza Strip in response to an international outcry over starvation in the Palestinian territory.

After hundreds were shot dead at Israeli-run aid sites, Ottawa and Canadian charities have pressed Israel to vastly increase the flow of aid by truck into Gaza, and to allow the aid to be distributed through the United Nations.

Aid experts have said that airdrops are much less effective than truck convoys. Some of the airdropped pallets have fallen into the sea, and at least one has struck and killed Palestinians on the ground.

"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient and can even kill starving civilians," Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UNRWA aid agency, wrote on social media.

"Manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates (and) guarantee safe movements."

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney cited Israel's aid restrictions and the need to preserve a path to a two-state solution as reasons for declaring that Canada would officially recognize a State of Palestine.

Carney said the move was conditional on the Palestinian Authority undertaking serious reforms and holding an election next year for the first time in two decades.

Canada has for years called for a two-state solution, which means the eventual creation of a Palestinian state that would exist in peace alongside Israel.

Before this week, Ottawa had been suggesting this would come at the end of peace talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

But the federal government said last fall that recognition might come sooner because of the spread of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Israel's high death count in Gaza. Carney cited both factors in his announcement Wednesday.

Carney's announcement was praised by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar, and by Canadian advocates for Palestinians.

The Israeli government condemned the move, while Canadian Jewish organizations have argued it will undermine ceasefire negotiations and encourage further violence.

And while U.S. President Donald Trump said days ago that he didn't mind if the U.K. recognized Palestine statehood, his administration struck out against Canada and others on Thursday.

"The president expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

"He feels as though that's rewarding Hamas, at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was "tone deaf" of Canada to "throw your hat in the ring" on Gaza when the U.S. is trying to broker a ceasefire.

"I just don't see the president stepping off the gas," Lutnick said.

University of Ottawa international affairs professor Thomas Juneau said Carney is making the right move toward peace in the Middle East by trying to give a Palestinian government legitimacy so it can counter Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority currently controls large parts of the West Bank through the Fatah party. Hamas, which Canada has listed as a terror group, has full control of Gaza.

Israel has claimed control of both territories since 1967, through what Canada and others deem to be an illegal occupation.

Neither territory has held an election since 2006 and polls by the anticorruption Aman Coalition think tank have found widespread concerns about corruption in both Palestinian governments.

Juneau said it's "counterproductive" to suggest that the Palestinian Authority is too flawed to be reformed, especially since there's no credible alternative.

"Words are not going to defeat Hamas," he said. "One of the ways to do that is to strengthen the P.A. relative to Hamas."

Carney said Wednesday that Canada needs to act to preserve a path to a two-state solution, and that moves by allies toward Palestinian statehood provide "an ability to influence" the situation.

Juneau said Carney was clear about Canada's limited influence on the situation in the Middle East.

"It is not earth-shattering. It is not a game-changer at all," he said. "If there is to be a marginal but real impact by countries other than the U.S., it's only if they act in a concerted way."

Juneau said he'll be watching to see if other countries pledge financial support to efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority ahead of the September meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Canada, France and others plan to make official their recognition of the State of Palestine at that UN meeting.

"The only option we have, if we are to be serious about peace, is to strengthen the P.A.," Juneau said.

Two Liberal MPs with large Jewish constituencies echoed that point Thursday as they defended the government's move.

Montreal MP Anthony Housefather wrote in a media statement that Canada's relationship with Israel "is strong and enduring, transcending whichever government are in place in either country."

He said that full recognition of Palestine can only happen after Hamas returns all hostages and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas publicly declares in Arabic and English that Israel has a right to exist.

"The issues I have raised were included as predicates in the government's statement," Housefather said — though none of those specific demands were part of Carney's remarks.

Toronto MP Leslie Church said the announcement came with "concrete obligations" imposed on the Palestinian Authority.

"As hard as it seems, this is a vision we must continue to work towards in Canada, and with our allies across the globe," she wrote.

Juneau said the Liberals likely weighed the political reaction in both Jewish and Muslim communities when deciding how to respond to events in the Middle East — including the impact of not changing Canada's policies.

He also said he wonders whether Carney is making foreign policy decisions with less of a focus on domestic politics than his predecessors.

"Of course domestic political considerations mattered — it would just make no sense to pretend otherwise. But perhaps less (so) than in the past," Juneau said.

The Conservatives have argued that Canada is encouraging Hamas, while the NDP says Ottawa needs to go further and restrict trade and arms sales to Israel.

Carney did not have an immediate response when asked whether it would pursue restrictions on trade with Israel.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025