G7 urges Hamas to accept Gaza truce deal
Bari, Italy – AFP
G7 leaders on Thursday called on Hamas to accept a roadmap towards a cease-fire in Gaza announced by US President Joe Biden in May.
The UN Security Council had supported the plan and “now it is important that everyone implements it,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
“We therefore call on Hamas in particular to give the necessary consent so that this can now work,” he said.
Biden launched a new US effort late last month to secure a truce and release of people held by Palestinian fighters in Gaza.
However, the deal remains uncertain as Hamas officials have insisted that any cease-fire agreement must guarantee a permanent end to the war — a demand Israel has firmly rejected.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting the summit, said she confirmed “the unanimous support for the US mediation proposal for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza”.
The G7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the US, also called for “the release of all hostages, and for a significant increase in humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza”, she said.
Israel has killed at least 37,232 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, since October last year, according to the local health ministry.
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