Mélanie Joly

It is imperative to "halt hostilities and immediately put an end to the bloodshed and allow humanitarian aid to flow unimpeded into Gaza," Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis has said, after meeting with this Canadian counterpart in Athens.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, centre, is surrounded by Britain's Foreign Secretary David Cameron, left, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa , high, Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani as they attend an Indo-Pacific meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting on Capri Island, Italy, Friday, April 19, 2024.

Canada will halt all arms shipments to Israel, a government official told AFP on Tuesday, a decision that has drawn the ire of Israel as it faces growing international scrutiny over its war in the Gaza Strip.

The besieged Palestinian territory is facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, and months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands of Gazans to the brink of famine.

The foreign ministers of seven prominent regional countries, including Turkish top diplomat Hakan Fidan, will visit the United States and Canada to urge them for an immediate ceasefire and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza amid the intensified Israeli offensive against Hamas that has already killed more than 16,000 civilians in the enclave.