Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies announced a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war on Wednesday after intensive meetings in Tokyo, condemning Hamas, supporting Israel's right to self-defense and calling for "humanitarian pauses" to speed aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement following two days of talks, the nations sought to balance unequivocal criticism of Hamas' attacks against Israel and "the need for urgent action" to help civilians in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday Israeli forces were operating "in the heart of Gaza City" one month after Hamas' bloody October 7 attacks, as the campaign to crush the Palestinian militants intensifies.

"We are in the heart of Gaza City," Gallant told reporters. "Gaza is the largest terrorist base ever built."

A journalist with Lebanese Al-Mayadeen television channel has filed a police complaint against an Israeli journalist who she alleged had "intimidated" her.

Hana Mohamed said Israeli journalist Haim Etgar confronted her at a post office after allegedly impersonating a postal employee and "threatening" her.

Three drones on Tuesday targeted a military base at Arbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan that plays host to troops from the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition, local officials said.

On Tuesday morning, "at two different points, three drones attacked the international coalition", the anti-terrorism service of the autonomous region of Kurdistan said in a statement.

A Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip and another was wounded, the official Palestinian news agency reported Tuesday.

Mohammad Abu Hasira was the latest among dozens of journalists killed in the month-long conflict that began with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel.

CIA Director William Burns is in the Middle East meeting with intelligence partners and leaders of several countries on matters including ones related to the war between Israel and Hamas, a U.S. official said.

Topics include the fate of some 240 people being held hostage by the Hamas militant group in Gaza, and the U.S. commitment to prevent state and nonstate actors from widening the Israel-Hamas war regionally, the U.S. official said.

Death, destruction and despair.

For the past month it has reigned on both sides of the border separating Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The U.N. Security Council has failed again to agree on a resolution on the monthlong Israel-Hamas war.

Despite more than two hours of closed-door discussions Monday, differences remained. The U.S. is calling for "humanitarian pauses" while many other council members are demanding a "humanitarian cease-fire" to deliver desperately needed aid and prevent more civilian deaths in Gaza.

Fresh from a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shifted his intense diplomacy on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia on Tuesday with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge consensus on how to deal with the crisis.

As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia's war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will have "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an indefinite period after its war with Hamas, the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to maintain control over the coastal enclave that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.

In an interview with ABC News that aired late Monday, Netanyahu expressed openness to "little pauses" in the fighting to facilitate the release of some of the more than 240 captives seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack into Israel, which triggered the war exactly one month ago.