Italy’s right-wing government on Tuesday joined Germany, France, Canada and the United Kingdom in calling on Israel to end its military campaign in Gaza, as allies ratchet up pressure on Jerusalem to reach a ceasefire and provide a surge of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“The legitimate reaction of the Israeli government to a terrible and senseless act of terrorism is unfortunately taking absolutely dramatic and unacceptable forms, which we call on Israel to stop immediately,” Antonio Tajani, the Italian foreign minister, said in an address to parliament.
Tajani was referencing the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages to Gaza, sparking the ongoing war in the Strip.
“The bombing must end, humanitarian assistance must resume as soon as possible, respect for international humanitarian law must be restored,” he added.
Later, alluding to calls by US President Donald Trump and some Israelis for Palestinians to leave Gaza en masse, he said, “The expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is not and will never be an acceptable option.”
Tajani’s comments are notable as Italy’s government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is staunchly right-wing. Right-wing leaders have been the most durable supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but that has shifted, as both Trump and Germany’s new center-right chancellor, Friedrich Merz, have said the war must end.
Meloni’s government has been under pressure to take a stronger stance against the war, with opposition parties backing a major demonstration calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state, which is planned for Rome in June. Tajani’s comments came during a heated parliamentary debate in which the opposition leader claimed Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza.
Tajani’s comments come amid a groundswell of criticism of the war, with allies such as the United Kingdom stepping up their rhetoric and policy opposition to Israel’s actions.
Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Netanyahu of “planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the Strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
Lammy also mentioned words from Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who he said “even spoke of Israeli forces ‘cleansing’ Gaza and ‘destroying what’s left,’ and of Palestinians ‘being relocated to third countries.’
“We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous. And I condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” Lammy said.
During that speech to Parliament, Lammy said the UK was suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies.
Criticism of the war has also come from unexpected corners, including from Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister who preceded Netanyahu’s election in 2009, who wrote in Haaretz on Tuesday that he believed the war was now “a private political war” for Netanyahu that in recent weeks had become indefensible.
“Yes, Israel is committing war crimes,” Olmert wrote, intensifying criticism he voiced just days earlier, when he said he believed Israel’s war conduct was verging on criminal.
Olmert’s comments came the same day that Israel rolled out a new aid distribution system in Gaza after months of not allowing any humanitarian aid into the enclave where 2 million Palestinians live.
The system, which briefly paused after being overrun by crowds of food-seekers, has drawn criticism from aid agencies and others for requiring Gazans to travel long distances to receive assistance.
Israel says it is necessary to prevent Hamas from stealing much of the aid, as it alleges it has done in the past, to maintain its control over the territory.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Monday that at least 3,822 people had been killed in the territory since the latest ceasefire collapsed on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,977 — a figure that cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.