FIUGGI, Italy – The European Union's top official said Tuesday there is “no excuse” for Israel to refuse to accept a ceasefire with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, saying that all security issues have been fixed in the US-French agreement.
Josep Borrell, the EU's outgoing foreign policy chief, called for increased pressure on Israel to defy hardliners in the government who refuse to accept the deal. Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meeting in Italy, Borrell warned that if a ceasefire is not implemented, “Lebanon will fall.”
Israeli officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet will meet on Tuesday to discuss the ceasefire proposal. Among the remaining issues is Israel's need to reserve the right to act if Hezbollah violates its obligations under the emerging agreement.
Borrell said that under the proposed agreement, the US would chair a committee to implement the ceasefire, and France would participate at Lebanon's request.
“In the proposal agreement drawn up by the US and France, Israel has all the security concerns (mentioned),” Borrell told reporters in Fiuggi, Italy. “There is no excuse for not implementing the cease-fire proposal. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall.”
After Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, months of back-and-forth fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has erupted into full-scale war in recent months, with Israel killing key Hezbollah leaders and sending ground troops into southern Lebanon. . .
Israeli bombings have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and injured more than 15,000, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by rockets, drones and missiles in northern Israel and in ground battles in Lebanon.
The G7 meeting of foreign ministers from the world's leading industrial nations, the last of the Biden administration, was dominated by the Mideast wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The G7 ministers were joined by the foreign ministers of the “Arab Quintet,” Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Borrell, whose term ends on December 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers that the UN Security Council adopt a resolution requiring humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians in Gaza, saying that delivery there is completely blocked.
“The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” said desperate Palestinians. “Hunger has been used as a weapon against a people who are completely condemned.”
It was referring to the main case brought by the International Criminal Court when it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and the former defense minister. Israel has vehemently denied the charges, calling them against the rule of law and defeating terrorism and said the charges failed to recognize the country's right to self-defense.
Borrell said the ICC's signatories, including six of the seven G7 members, have an obligation under international law to respect and implement the court's decisions. The US is not a party to the court and has called the arrest warrants “bad.”
Host Italy put the ICC's mandate on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on how the G7 would respond given the position of the US, Israel's closest ally.
Italy also said it respected the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised as Netanyahu is crucial to any agreement to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
“Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the people of Europe do not support the International Criminal Court there will be no hope of justice.”
While the G7 meeting was dominated by the turmoil in the Mideast on Monday, attention on Tuesday turned to Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was present and informed ministers about Russia's attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
“We want to reiterate, clearly, our solidarity with Italy and the G7,” Tajani told ministers at the start of Tuesday's session. “Support for Kyiv is a priority.”
The G7 has been at the forefront of providing military and economic support to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and G7 members are very concerned about how the Trump administration will change the US approach.
Trump has criticized the billions of dollars the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine and said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he will pressure Ukraine to cede territory to Russia now.
Tensions have been high since Russia attacked Ukraine last week with a test, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike was in retaliation for Kyiv's use of American and British missiles capable of penetrating deep into Russian territory.
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