286K sign e-petition urging Trudeau to demand immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas

An online petition urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to demand an immediate ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas closed Thursday with a record-setting 286,719 signatures — the most of any parliamentary e-petition since they began in 2015.

Initiated by Montréal resident Maëva Gaudrault and sponsored by Quebec NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice, the petition also calls on the prime minister to ask Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip and to urge Israel to meet its commitments under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.

The Liberal government has 45 calendar days to respond after an e-petition is tabled in the House of Commons.

Trudeau has to date stopped short of explicitly calling for a ceasefire, and instead has opted to push for temporary pauses to the fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Trudeau urged Israel last week to "exercise maximum restraint" in its war on Hamas, noting that the world is witnessing the "killing of women and children, of babies."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on those comments in a social media post tagging Trudeau, saying that it is Hamas, a designated terrorist group in Canada, that deliberately targets civilians.

The Conservatives have joined the Liberal government in calling for humanitarian pauses, while the Bloc Québécois and the NDP are both calling for an immediate ceasefire and want the Liberal government to do the same.

Twenty-three Liberal MPs signed a letter to Trudeau last month calling on him to advocate for a ceasefire.

Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people and wounded thousands more. Hamas also kidnapped more than 200 hostages, some of whom were released Friday.

Israel declared war on Hamas in response, laying siege to Gaza, dropping thousands of bombs and launching a ground operation in the heart of Gaza City. The Hamas-run Gaza health authority said Thursday that more than 13,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's current military campaign in Gaza.

A 4-day pause in fighting began early Friday to allow for the release of some hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of some Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.

Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the war on Hamas after the temporary truce expires.