Carney Travels to Egypt for Trump’s Gaza Peace Summit

Prime Minister Mark Carney boards a government plane as he departs for Poland, Germany, and Latvia, at the airport in Ottawa on Aug. 23, 2025. The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi

Prime Minister Mark Carney has travelled to Egypt to take part in a last-minute summit regarding the peace plan U.S. President Donald Trump arranged between Israel and Hamas.

Carney left Canada on the afternoon of Oct. 12 to head to Egypt, where he is expected to join leaders from more than 20 countries in the Red Sea City of Sharm El-Sheikh, where Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says he will co-chair a “peace summit.”

Government leaders will be represented from across the Middle East, as well as France, Germany, and the U.K.

Carney’s Oct. 12 itinerary was updated roughly three hours before his plane was set to depart, saying he would be heading to Egypt to “attend the signing of a Middle East peace plan,” an event that will be closed to the media. The media had not been notified of Carney’s trip ahead of time.

Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas said on Oct. 3 that it agreed to release all hostages in accordance with Trump’s 20-point peace plan unveiled on Sept. 29. The group also said it accepted parts of the proposal to end its war with Israel, including giving up power over Gaza. However, it noted that other provisions would require further consultations among Palestinians.

The Trump administration reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 29 on the administration’s proposed peace plan.

The deal included the withdrawal of Israel forces to an agreed-upon line, suspension of all military operations in Gaza, and Israel’s release of 250 prisoners serving life sentences along with 1,700 Gazans detained after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

The plan states that when the Palestinian Authority completes its reform program, it could prepare the conditions for “a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” It also includes plans to deradicalize Gaza, making it a terror-free zone, and to immediately send “full aid” into the Gaza Strip upon acceptance of the agreement.

The Israeli government on Oct. 3 said it was ready to immediately implement the first phase of Trump’s plan following Hamas’s acceptance, and pledged cooperation with the United States.

Israel completed the first phase of its withdrawal from Gaza on Oct. 10, marking the beginning of the ceasefire to end the Israel-Hamas war. This began a 72-hour countdown for the release of all hostages by Hamas, including both those alive and those dead.

The Israeli military retreated to the line agreed to between Israel and Hamas in the deal, which was signed in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The military is expected to receive the hostages, and with the partial withdrawal, Israel will control 53 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Recognizing Palestinian Statehood

Canada officially recognized Palestinian statehood on Sept. 21, along with the United Kingdom, Australia, and Portugal. The announcement was made ahead of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, as the countries had pledged to recognize a Palestinian state prior to the summit.

“Recognising the State of Palestine, led by the Palestinian Authority, empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas,” Carney said in a Sept. 21 statement. “This in no way legitimises terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.”

Carney said Hamas must release all Israeli hostages, disarm, and not have a role in the governance of Palestine.

Ottawa had announced in July that it would recognize Palestinian statehood subject to the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to bring in certain reforms, including holding general elections in 2026 that exclude Hamas and demilitarizing the Palestinian state.

However, in his Sept. 21 statement, Carney said his government moved to recognize Palestinian statehood before these commitments were fulfilled because of Israel’s ongoing military operations in the region.

“The current Israeli government is working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established,” Carney said, mentioning civilian deaths in Gaza and settlement expansion in the West Bank. He added that Israel has “caused a devastating and preventable famine in violation of international law.”

Meanwhile, Israel said it needed to continue its operations in the region in order to defeat Hamas, and the country rejected accusations of starving civilians. Netanyahu said aid was getting to civilians.

The recognition of Palestinian statehood by Canada and other countries was criticized by the United States, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it made it more difficult to achieve a peace deal.

“If I’m Hamas, I basically conclude, let’s not do a ceasefire because we can be rewarded and we can claim it as a victory,” Rubio said in an interview with Raymond Arroyo in the program the World Over in August.

“Those messages, while largely symbolic in their minds, actually have made it harder to get peace and harder to achieve a deal with Hamas. They feel emboldened.”

Netanyahu also strongly condemned Carney’s move to recognize Palestinian statehood, saying it equated to giving a “prize to Hamas.” He said there would be no Palestinian state.

“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

The Conservatives also condemned the move, saying Canada’s recognition of Palestinian statehood rewards Hamas’s acts of terrorism. The party said Israel has the right to defend itself and that Palestine should be free of Hamas control. The Tories also said the federal government should focus on issues of importance at home instead.

“Prime Minister Mark Carney’s priority is creating a Hamas state that will reward terrorists for raping civilians, taking hostages, oppressing Palestinians and launching a war,” the Conservatives said in a Sept. 21 statement.

Aldgra Fredly, Emel Akan, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.