Foreign ministers of G7 have called for a “humanitarian pause” in Israeli bombardments to deliver aid to desperate Palestinian civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
Top diplomats from the seven countries announced a unified position on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday after intense meetings in Tokyo. In their statement, they condemned Hamas and supported Israel’s right to self-defence, but called for a humanitarian pause in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy stressed that they “support humanitarian pauses to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement and release of hostages.”
The Ministers also condemned “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians,” which is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, at least 154 Palestinians have been killed and 2,150 arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war broke out a month ago.
Israel claimed its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City, where some 650,000 people lived before the war and where the Israeli military said Hamas had a central command and a vast labyrinth of tunnels.
The Israeli bombardment of the Strip has killed at least 10,328 people, including 4,237 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Hospitals across the enclave have come under fire, with many struggling to continue operating due to fuel and medicine shortages. The UN declares that health, sanitation, water and nutrition in the Gaza Strip are approaching a “tipping point.”
