G7 FM meeting in Capri opens as Borrell warns of regional war in Mideast

(18 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Capri - 18 April 2024
1. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaking to journalists
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Josep Borrell, EU Foreign Policy Chief:
“In the situation in the Middle East, we don't have to lose focus on what's happening in Gaza. In Gaza, humanitarian catastrophe continues. Humanitarian support has very little increased, has increased, but very, very, very, very insufficient. We have to ask Israel for restrained answer to the Iranians attack. We cannot escalate. You cannot go step by step, answering every time higher to a regional war. I don't want to exaggerate, but we are on the edge of a war, a regional war in the Middle East.”
3. Borrell walking away media
STORYLINE:
Group of Seven foreign ministers began meeting on Thursday on the Italian resort island of Capri, with the discussion focusing on the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell urged Western leaders to provide more vital support to Ukraine in its two-year war with Russia.

“They need arms, and we have to provide them much quicker,” Borrell said.

The United States and several European countries are discussing proposals to use the profits generated from billions of euros of frozen Russian assets to help provide weapons and other funds for Ukraine.

Such proposals have gathered steam as U.S. efforts to get new funds for weapons have stalled in Congress.

The EU’s top diplomat also warned of wider regional war in the Middle East and said the focus should be on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“I don't want to exaggerate, but we are on the edge of a war, a regional war in the Middle East,” he added.

Tensions have ramped up since the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Palestinian militant Hamas — an ally of Iran — and Islamic Jihad groups from Gaza attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others as hostages.

Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,800 people, according to local health officials.

World leaders have urged Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched the attack last weekend toward Israel, pushing the Mideast closer to a regionwide war.

The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.

“We have to ask Israel for restrained answer to the Iranians attack. We cannot escalate,” Borrell said.

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