Canada supports UN resolution calling for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war

Canada has voted in favour of a non-binding United Nations resolution that calls for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Israel-Hamas war.

"From the very beginning we have said that Israel has the right to defend itself," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters before the vote on Tuesday. "How Israel defends itself matters."

The resolution passed the UN General Assembly with 153 votes in favour, 10 against and 23 abstentions. The vote followed the United States' decision on Friday to veto a resolution at the UN Security Council that called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza.

The Gaza health authority — which is controlled by Hamas, a listed terrorist entity in Canada — reported Monday that more than 18,200 Gazans have been killed since Oct. 7.

"What is unfolding before our eyes will only enhance the cycle of violence. This will not lead to the durable defeat of Hamas," Joly said Tuesday.

Joly said a ceasefire cannot be "one-sided." She said Hamas must lay down its arms and release the remaining hostages it captured on Oct. 7.

Canada's vote represents a shift away from its longstanding practice of voting with Israel on major resolutions at the UN.

Canada's Ambassador to the UN Bob Rae told CBC News Network's Power & Politics that Canada's support for Israel still stands. He said Canada backed the resolution due to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

"The status quo in the fighting is unsustainable from a humanitarian perspective. From the point of view of what is happening to people, it is simply unsustainable," Rae told host David Cochrane.

Iddo Moed, Israel's ambassador to Canada, said the UN resolution "changes nothing on the ground."

"Calling for a ceasefire may appease political supporters, but it does not make any difference and has no significance for those people who are suffering right now under the terrorist regime of Hamas," Moed said in a separate interview on Power & Politics.

"It does not help ... in any way the families of the hostages. It does not help in any way those who were victimized by Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7," Moed told Cochrane.

Moed said "talking [with Hamas] will not make any difference" and the UN resolution won't change how Israel carries out its war on Hamas.

"I don't think that anybody can tell us how to fight our wars. We do it in the way that we know will ensure our lives and our future in the region," he said.