AA / Ankara / Ikram Kouachi
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday described as “biased and unfair” a draft final declaration from the meeting of the Group of 20 largest economies in the world, relating to its murderous war against the Gaza Strip.
Sa’ar said, on his X account, that the final declaration of the G20 summit must recognize what he called Israel’s right to defend itself and condemn the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
Following an attack by Hamas on October 7 last year, Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 43,800 people, mainly women and children, and injuring more of 103,600 others.
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching devastating strikes across the country, marking an escalation after a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war. Since then, nearly 3,500 Lebanese have been killed and more than 14,600 others injured.
Sa’ar said he discussed with his counterparts from G20 countries the need to include in the final declaration what he called “recognition of Israel’s right to defend itself”, to demand the release of prisoners Israelis detained in Gaza and to condemn both Hamas and Hezbollah.
He warned that any further statements that did not address Israel’s concerns would “harm the peace and security” of the region.
On Monday and Tuesday, the leaders of the group of the world’s largest economies (G20, of which Tel Aviv is not a member) will meet in Rio de Janeiro for their annual summit, hosted by Brazil.
Ignoring international warnings that the Middle East was on the brink of a regional war, Israel widened the ongoing conflict by launching a ground attack on southern Lebanon on October 1.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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