Brazil says G20 members broadly back two-state solution as Gaza war rages

G20 nations broadly back a two-state solution to the war in the Middle East, host Brazil said after a meeting of top diplomats, adding to pressure on Israel to accept and recognise an independent Palestinian state.

The support for a two-state solution from the Group of 20 leading economies came on Thursday, a day after Israel's parliament overwhelmingly voted to oppose any "unilateral" recognition of a Palestinian state, in a move Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said sent a "powerful message to the international community."

Israel's onslaught in besieged Gaza was a central focus of the two-day meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro, along with Russia's conflict with Ukraine and the ineffectiveness of the United Nations and other global institutions in the face of mounting conflicts and polarisation.

There was "virtual unanimity for the two-state solution as the only possible solution" in the Middle East, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told journalists.

"The only reason [Vieira] didn't simply say 'unanimity' is that not every speaker addressed the issue," a Brazilian Foreign Ministry source told the AFP news agency.

"Every [minister] that addressed the issue voiced support" for a two-state solution, "and it was a lot" of ministers, he said.

'Everybody favours two-state solution'

The meeting brought together top diplomats, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Turkish top diplomat Hakan Fidan and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Borrell had urged Vieira to use his closing statement on the meeting "to explain to the world that at the G20, everybody was in favour" of a two-state solution, with an independent Palestine co-existing with Israel.

"Everybody here, everybody, I haven't heard anyone against it. It was a strong request for a two-state solution," Borrell told journalists.

"The common denominator is that there's not going to be peace, there's not going to be sustainable security for Israel, unless the Palestinians have a clear political prospect to build [their] own state."

Israel's onslaught in Gaza

More than four months into its brutal war on besieged Gaza, where warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe are mounting by the day, Israel faces growing international pressure for the recognition of a Palestinian state — including from key ally the United States.

About 72 percent of UN member states already recognise Palestine as a country.

Israel has killed at least 29,410 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and wounded 69,465 others in its ongoing onslaught in Gaza.

Some 85 percent of the blockaded enclave's population has been displaced due to Israel's indiscriminate attacks, and all of Gaza's population face food insecurity.

Just 13 of the Palestinian enclave's 34 hospitals are functioning on a partial or minimal level.