NAPLES, ITALY: G7 defence ministers convened Saturday (Oct 19) against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.
Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organised the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.
Invited to the one-day talks were NATO chief Mark Rutte and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.
Borrell told reporters the group had much to discuss, including recent strikes on the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, and the possibility of a ceasefire in Gaza.
The summit comes two days after Israel announced it had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the devastating retaliatory war in Gaza.
“Certainly after the killing of Yahya Sinwar a new perspective is open and we have to use it in order to reach a ceasefire, to release the remaining hostages and to look for a political perspective,” Borrell told journalists.
