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G7 Foreign Ministers Fail to Agree on Gaza Ceasefire Amid Call for Two-State Solution

11:03 GMT, 8 November 2023
© AFP 2023 / EUGENE HOSHIKO
Oleg Burunov
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G7 member states remain at loggerheads over how to resolve the Gaza gridlock as Israel procedes with bombardments of the Palestinian enclave in retaliation against the October 7 Hamas attack.
Sputnik
The only way to secure stable peace in the Middle East is a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict, G7 foreign ministers said following their high-level talks in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The Japanese capital hosted the two-day gathering of top diplomats from the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy, who, in particular, discussed the Gaza crisis amid the current escalation of the Palestine­-Israel conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier joined the Tokyo summit, in what American media described as his “latest attempt to fix the US’ declining world standing.”

The media outlet recalled that Blinken came to Tokyo after “concluding his four-day blitz” through the Middle East, where he “largely ended empty-handed after meeting with leaders in Israel, Palestinian territories, Jordan and Syria, without scoring peace.”

Media reports said that the foreign ministers of G7 nations “were expected to call in a joint statement for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza,” but will most likely stop short of urging a ceasefire.

The German edition noted in this regard that “agreeing upon the wording of any statement on Israel's right to defend itself amid concerns about the rising civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip could prove difficult.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters ahead of the Tokyo talks that the ministers would "discuss how we can achieve humanitarian pauses together to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza."
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“As G7 countries, we are making clear that Israel has the right and the duty to protect its population and its people in the framework of international law," she added.

Baerbock was partly echoed by Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa, who said, "Although we will refrain from making a legal assessment of the actions of the Israeli military, generally speaking, the basic norms of international humanitarian law must be observed."

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, for his part, told journalists that his government only supports a geographically specific “humanitarian pause” rather than a wider ceasefire in Gaza.
The Tokyo gathering comes amid clear-cut divisions between G7 members over the Gaza crisis.
On Tuesday, the White House said that it doesn’t believe Israeli forces should reoccupy Gaza after Tel Aviv's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's said that the Jewish state will have the "overall security responsibility" for the strip for an “indefinite period” after the current armed conflict ends.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, in turn, pointed out: “our viewpoint is that Palestinians must be at the forefront of these decisions and Gaza is Palestinian land and it will remain Palestinian land. Generally speaking, we do not support the reoccupation of Gaza and neither does Israel."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since October 7, when Hamas militants launched a surprise large-scale attack on the Jewish state from the Palestinian enclave. Tel Aviv has said that at least 1,400 Israelis were killed in the standoff, while the Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,300.
WorldUSJapanIsraelPalestinePalestine-Israel conflictTokyoG7 SummittalkscrisisGaza Strip
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