Senior diplomats from the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and Italy will meet on Thursday in Paris to discuss the spiraling tensions in the Middle East, sources said on Wednesday.
The meeting will take place as fears grow of an all-out war engulfing the region, with conflict raging in Gaza and after two days of exploding pagers and other devices in Lebanon, an unprecedented attack the country's Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group has blamed on Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join his counterparts from Washington's allies in the French capital after discussing the possibility of a Gaza war truce in Cairo.
During his visit, aimed at salvaging stalled negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to end the conflict, he said a ceasefire in Gaza would be the best way to stop violence from spreading across the Middle East.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who said he would attend, added that the group would also discuss the war in Ukraine.