G7 countries urging ‘humanitarian pauses’ in bombarded Gaza

Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven of the world’s most economically powerful countries – on Wednesday released a unified call for “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza.

The Israeli occupation forces are committing war crimes in Gaza reaching incredibly disastrous results with death toll of more than 10,000 unarmed Palestinian, around 40% of them children.

“We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages,” the foreign ministers said in a joint statement after winding up a two-day meeting in Tokyo, Japan.

“We underscore the importance of protecting civilians and compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law,” the statement held, while also stressing on the group’s belief of Israel’s right to “defend itself”

“I believe it’s important that the G7 was able to put out its first unified message as a statement regarding a humanitarian pause… in terms of the responsibility the G7 has towards the international community,” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters.

When asked whether the G7 as a whole supported a complete ceasefire or just humanitarian pauses, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken replied that the statement “very accurately reflects” what was discussed and that there was “real unity” among the group.

The communique also repeated G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Highlighted the need for engagement with China and condemned North Korea’s missile tests and arms transfers to Russia.

The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US with the European participating in this meeting.

There had been doubts about the G7’s ability to effectively address significant crises as they didn’t seem to be able to come to a consensus on a solid, unified approach to the war.

The other statement from the G7 consisted of a few brief phrases and was released following a meeting of its finance ministers on October 12. Joint statements have been released by other group members.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that they would consider “tactical little pauses” but, alongside its close ally the United States and other Western countries, has rejected calls for a ceasefire that it says would allow Hamas to regroup.

Some European countries have called for a ceasefire not just a “pause” however not all of them agree as some European leaders share the US president Biden’s view that Israel needs to do everything they can to demolish Hamas.

Long-term scheme

Over dinner, the ministers discussed what happens after the Israeli attacks on Gaza end and the possible ways to regain peace to the regain. Japan said in a statement.

Israel has been unclear on a long term plan for Gaza. In some of the first direct comments on the subject, Netanyahu said this week that Israel would aim at having security responsibility for Gaza “for an indefinite period”.

But Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told the Wall Street Journal that Israel wanted the territory to be under an international coalition, including the U.S., European Union and Muslim-majority countries, or administered by Gaza political leaders.

After the meetings, Blinken issued to reporters that Gaza could not be under Hamas or Israel control.

“Now, the reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict… We don’t see a reoccupation and what I’ve heard from Israeli leaders is that they have no intent to reoccupy Gaza,” he said.

Diplomats in Washington, the United Nations, the Middle East and beyond have also started weighing the options.

Discussions include the deployment of a multinational force to post-war Gaza, an interim Palestinian-led administration that would exclude Hamas politicians, a stopgap security and governance role for neighboring Arab states and temporary U.N. supervision of the territory, as per Reuters report this month.

After the meetings in Tokyo, Blinken goes to South Korea in the first visit after more than two years. The talks mainly will focus on strengthening the Washington-Seoul alliance amid growing concern over North Korea’s military ties with Russia.