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.” 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.
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."
“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. 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.
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.
