By John Geddie and Sakura Murakami
TOKYO (Reuters) – G7 foreign ministers discussed how to revitalise peace efforts in the Middle East and the “day after” in the Gaza Strip once the conflict there recedes as they met for a two-day summit in Tokyo.
The subject was brought up during a working dinner late on Tuesday, host Japan said in a statement, with the Group of Seven (G7) due to continue talks on Wednesday on the Israel-Gaza crisis, Russia’s war in Ukraine and issues related to China.
The statement gave no details of options being discussed if the Hamas militant group is ousted from Gaza as the result of an ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans for Gaza. In some of the first direct comments on the subject, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Israel would seek to have security responsibility for Gaza “for an indefinite period”.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told the Wall Street Journal that Israel wants the territory to be under an international coalition, including the U.S., European Union and Muslim-majority countries, or administered by local Gaza political leaders.
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-conflict Gaza, an interim Palestinian-led administration that would exclude Hamas politicians, a stopgap security and governance role for neighbouring Arab states and temporary U.N. supervision of the territory, Reuters reported this month.
G7 foreign ministers are due to issue a communique mentioning the Israel-Gaza crisis later on Wednesday, marking only the second such joint statement from the group on the issue since Hamas gunmen sparked the conflict with an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The statement will present the G7’s “united stance” on the Middle East situation, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.
It is expected to include a call for humanitarian pauses, temporary breaks in fighting to allow aid into the besieged enclave, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.
Netanyahu has said Israel would consider “tactical little pauses” but, alongside its close ally the United States and other Western countries, has rejected calls for a ceasefire it says would allow Hamas to regroup.
The G7 group of wealthy, industrialised nations is made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, with the European Union also participating in the talks.
(Reporting by John Geddie and Sakura Murakami; additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Gerry Doyle)
