World leaders at G7 summit call on Hamas to accept hostage deal
G7 leaders on Thursday called on Palestinian terrorist group Hamas to accept a roadmap toward a ceasefire 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 hostage release, revealing an Israeli offer that would lead to an extensive ceasefire and release of hostages.
However, the deal remains uncertain as Hamas officials have insisted that any ceasefire agreement must guarantee a permanent end to the war, a demand Israel has firmly rejected.
On Monday, Hamas responded to the proposal revealed by Biden, declaring that it made “amendments” to the offer. Israel said that the terror group’s response amounted to a rejection of the proposal.
The portions of the Israeli offer revealed by Biden in his May 31 speech envision a three-phased plan, starting with a six-week phase one truce during which Hamas would release the remaining living female, elderly and sick hostages.
In exchange, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners; withdraw the IDF from Gaza population centers; allow the unrestricted return of Palestinians to all areas of the Strip; and facilitate the daily entry of 600 trucks of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting the summit, said she confirmed “the unanimous support for the US mediation proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
The G7 – which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy 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.
War began following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 37,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. The tolls, which cannot be verified, include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is hosting the summit, said she confirmed “the unanimous support for the US mediation proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
The G7 – which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy 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.
War began following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 37,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. The tolls, which cannot be verified, include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Source » timesofisrael.com
