The G7 released a statement on Thursday criticizing Israeli expansion in Judea and Samaria.
“The government of Israel’s settlement program is inconsistent with international law and counterproductive to the cause of peace,” stated the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union high representative.
“We also reject the decision by the government of Israel to declare over 1,270 hectares of land in the West Bank as ‘state lands’—the largest such declaration of state land since the Oslo Accords—and the decision to expand existing settlements in the occupied West Bank by 5,295 new housing units and to establish three new settlements,” the leaders stated. (The United States and many other countries refer to Judea and Samaria as “the West Bank.”)
The statement did not mention that many Israeli citizens have been displaced from their homes since Oct. 7, including due to Hezbollah attacks in the north.
