Diplomacy: G-7 FMs to discuss Hamas, Ukraine, and Central Asia in Japan

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Ever since the Hamas terror group invaded Israel a month ago, the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, has virtually disappeared from headlines worldwide. Even Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy had complained about this.

Now the Group of Seven (G-7) foreign ministers meeting in Japan for two days from Tuesday will discuss both Ukraine and Hamas issues, the media reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Japan on Tuesday for a meeting of G-7 foreign ministers set to seek a common line on Gaza as calls mount for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Blinken made no public comment as he arrived for the two days of discussions in Tokyo following his latest whirlwind tour of the Middle East. For nearly a month, he has been on a whistle-stop circuitous tour between the Middle Eastern capitals and Washington, in what diplomats say is a revival of the legendary Henry Kissinger’s ‘shuttle diplomacy’ in the 1970s to douse fires in the volatile region.

The Israeli military has relentlessly bombarded Gaza since October 7, after Hamas terrorists launched an attack that left 1,400 dead in Israel, most of them civilians, the Israeli authorities said.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 10,000 people — including more than 4,000 children.

A key ally of Israel, the United States has resisted calling for a ceasefire, insisting that Israel has the right to respond — though Washington has called for pauses in the fighting to allow aid to reach the victims.

In Turkey on Monday, Blinken said Washington was working “very aggressively” to expand aid for trapped civilians.

“I think we will see in the days ahead that the assistance can expand in significant ways,” Blinken added but gave no details.

France was the only G-7 member to vote in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution last month seeking an immediate “humanitarian truce.”

The United States voted against it while Japan, Britain, Italy, Germany, and Canada all abstained.

France said in a statement announcing Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna’s attendance in Tokyo that the meeting would discuss “the need to respond to the needs of civilian populations in Gaza and to respect international humanitarian law.”

Colonna “will reiterate our condemnation of the terrorist actions of Hamas and the imperative of releasing the hostages,” the statement added.

German counterpart Annalena Baerbock said the G-7 would “discuss how we can achieve humanitarian pauses together to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza.”

“For me, it is clear that the Hamas terrorists have brought infinite suffering to Israel and the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza with the horrific attacks of October 7. Hamas cannot be allowed to determine the fate of the people in the Gaza Strip,” she added.

Another major topic in the G-7 meeting will be the Ukraine war, with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba set to join from Kyiv by video conference, the reports said.

With some signs of fatigue in supporting Ukraine’s war effort against Russia — which used to make up the now-defunct G-8 — the G7 was expected to stick to firm language condemning Moscow, experts said.

However, the G-7 might moderate its language regarding China as tentative signs emerge that Beijing’s tensions with the West may be easing.

These signs include upcoming talks between the United States and China ahead of the COP28 climate conference and President Xi Jinping’s scheduled meeting with Biden in San Francisco this month.

Another G-7 topic will be deepening ties with resource-rich and strategically located Central Asia, next door to Russia, with foreign ministers from the region set to join by video conference.