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, *Reuters quoted them as saying in a joint statement on Tuesday.

“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,” the joint statement added.

“We, as the G7, urge the release of all hostages immediately and unconditionally,” the G7 statement said. It emphasised “Israel’s right to defend itself and its people” but underscored the importance of “protecting civilians and compliance with international law”.

It also said the G7 was committed to a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution. The G7 foreign ministers cautioned against further escalation of the conflict.