G7 leaders met Monday in the Italian town of Fiuggi, about 70 kilometers southeast of Rome. Progress in negotiations to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon was at the top of the agenda for the nations present.
Two months after Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, reports suggest that a U.S.-led proposal could soon be accepted by the warring parties.
The foreign minister of Italy, which hosted the G7 meeting, expressed cautious optimism. “We may be close to a ceasefire in Lebanon, let’s touch wood and hope that it’s true, and that there will be no backtracking at the last moment,” Antonio Tajani said. “It’s a bit more complicated in Gaza, but we all want to work to achieve this goal.”
Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League, also attended the meeting.
As the G7 ministers arrived in Italy, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Mike Herzog told Israeli Army Radio on Monday that a ceasefire agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah could be reached “in the coming days.”
“We need a ceasefire, a permanent ceasefire. It will stop the killing, stop the destruction and restore a sense of normalcy to life,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told the conference.
Pressure, negotiations
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, meanwhile, reaffirmed that Cairo would host a ministerial-level conference on Monday to mobilize international aid for Gaza.
The so-called “Quintet” is working with the United States to finalize a “day-after” plan for Gaza. Progress is urgently needed before the Trump administration takes over in January. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to push a policy strongly in favor of Israel at the expense of Palestinian aspirations.
The proposal currently being discussed to end the fighting calls for an initial two-month ceasefire, during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border, south of the Litani River.
For now, Israel continues its deadly strikes in Beirut, including within meters of a Lebanese police base and the city’s largest public park.
Lebanese politicians have denounced the continued airstrikes and said they are hampering US-led ceasefire negotiationsThe country’s deputy parliament speaker accused Israel of stepping up its bombing in a bid to pressure Lebanon to make concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.