Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that he’s recently been in touch with two key players in U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Israel and Gaza.
Speaking virtually to a crowd gathered for the Eurasia Group’s 2025 summit on Canada and U.S. relations, Carney said he had spoken to both former British prime minister Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, about the plan “in the last 48 hours.”
“We, Canada, are working closely with the Gulf powers, the Arab powers in the region, complementary to the United States in terms of the president’s 20-point peace plan,” Carney said.
“I’ve been in contact personally with Jared Kushner and Tony Blair… to co-ordinate our support as that [peace plan] moves forward.”
Carney’s comments came just hours before Trump announced on social media that the two sides had agreed to the first phase of the deal, allowing for the release of all Israeli hostages.
That also means Israel will “withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line,” Trump added.
Trump announced the plan last week, which proposes a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.
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Blair would be part of the proposed “board of peace” that would provide oversight and guidance as Palestinians and Israelis implement a potential ceasefire in Gaza, Trump said.
Kushner is acting as one of the president’s envoys in the peace negotiations.
Prior to Trump’s announcement that the first phase of the deal had been reached, Carney took a cautiously optimistic tone about the state of the negotiations.
“I shouldn’t overplay it, but the momentum is there,” Carney told the crowd on Wednesday evening.
Despite the first agreement of the deal being reached, there is still a sticking point with no clear indication who will rule Gaza when the war ends.
Netanyahu, Trump, Western and Arab states have ruled out a role for Hamas, which has run Gaza since driving out Palestinian rivals in 2007.
Hamas has said it would relinquish Gaza governance only to a Palestinian technocrat government supervised by the Palestinian Authority and backed by Arab and Muslim countries. It rejects any role for Blair or foreign rule of Gaza.
Arab countries which back the plan say it must lead to eventual independence for a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu says will never happen.
In the meantime, Israel has continued its military operation in Gaza, which has left much of the enclave in shambles. Israel has recently dialled down its military campaign at Trump’s behest, but has not halted strikes altogether.
Gaza authorities say more than 67,000 people have been killed since Israel began its military response to the attack by the Palestinian militant group two years ago. Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken back to Gaza, according to Israeli officials, with 20 of the 48 hostages still held believed to be alive.
