G7 foreign ministers support extension of pause in fighting in Gaza

Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries support the further extension of the current pause in fighting in Gaza and future pauses to increase assistance and facilitate the release of all hostages, they said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The joint statement added, “Every effort must be made to ensure humanitarian support for civilians. … We support the further extension of this pause and future pauses as needed to enable assistance to be scaled up, and to facilitate the release of all hostages.”
According to health officials, the current truce brought Hamas-ruled Gaza its first respite after seven weeks of bombardment that has reduced much of the coastal strip to rubble and killed more than 15,000 people.
The G7 statement also welcomed the release of some of the hostages seized on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants when they launched an assault on Israel that killed around 1,200 people.