Italy will back some European Union sanctions against Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that Israel’s actions in the Strip had crossed a line “violating humanitarian norms, causing a slaughter of civilians.”

Her comments signaled a further erosion in international support for Israel, this time from a European leader who had been seen as staunchly pro-Israel, amid growing protests in Italy.

Addressing the assembly, Meloni fiercely condemned Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the war, charging it “took advantage of the weakening architecture” of international law. “The ferocity and brutality of that attack — the hunting down of defenseless civilians — drove Israel to what was, in principle, a legitimate reaction, because every state and every people has the right to defend itself.”

But, she said, Israel had now gone too far.

“However, a reaction to an aggression must always respect the principle of proportionality. This is true for individuals and is all the more true for States. Israel has crossed that line, with a large-scale war that involves the Palestinian civilian population beyond measure,” she told the assembly.

“And it is by crossing that line that the Jewish state has ended up violating humanitarian norms, causing a slaughter of civilians. A choice that Italy has repeatedly described as unacceptable, and one that will lead us to vote in favor of some of the sanctions against Israel proposed by the European Commission,” she said.

Last week, the commission formally presented its proposal for sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers and a partial suspension of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel.

The sanctions, if approved, would strip Israeli imports of their preferential access to the EU. Israeli goods would have duties slapped on them at the same level as imports coming from countries with which the EU does not have a free trade agreement.

The Commission also called to suspend “bilateral support” to Israel, with the exceptions of civil society and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center.

Meloni added in her speech on Wednesday that Italy would “not join those who place all the responsibility for what is happening in Gaza on Israel, for it was Hamas that started the war,” reiterating her opposition to several Western countries’ recognition of a Palestinian state.

“It is Hamas that could bring Palestinians’ suffering to an end, by immediately releasing all the hostages. It is Hamas that seems to want to prosper on the suffering of the people it claims to represent,” she said, while stressing that Israel must remove itself from “the trap of this war.”

Meloni insisted that Israel does not have “the right to prevent a Palestinian state” from being established.

“At the same time, we believe that a recognition of Palestine must have two essential preconditions: the release of all Israeli hostages and Hamas giving up any role whatsoever in the government of Palestine, because those who started the conflict cannot be rewarded,” she said.

With protests in the streets and a slew of Western nations recognizing a state of Palestine, Meloni’s right-wing government is under pressure over its position on the conflict.

The government is “on the wrong side of history,” the main opposition party said this week, as countries including Britain, Canada and France recognized Palestinian statehood.

Italy’s left-wing Repubblica daily acknowledged Thursday that “in terms of political symbols, the Meloni government has ended its immobilism,” following Meloni’s speech a day earlier.

Meanwhile, public anger over the government’s perceived inertia has been growing.

On Monday, tens of thousands of people, including high school and university students, demonstrated across Italy to denounce “the genocide in Gaza.”

Local initiatives in support of Gaza have also been growing in the Catholic country, which has a strong pacifist tradition.

“We have to do something. It’s been two years since anything has been done, and Meloni is still finding excuses not to recognize the Palestinian state,” Roberta Paolini, 53, told AFP during a demonstration Wednesday evening in Milan.

Some 87.8 percent of Italians are in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state, according to an Izi poll published Wednesday.

And that number remains high — 73 percent — among voters who support the governing coalition parties.

“For a government that has always presented itself as representing a direct expression of popular sovereignty, these numbers count,” the Stampa daily said in an editorial on Wednesday.

In an extra headache for Meloni, there are also around 60 Italians — including four members of parliament — on a Gaza-bound flotilla which aims to break the Israeli blockade and deliver symbolic aid to the Strip.

Though Meloni has slammed the activists as “irresponsible,” Rome dispatched a naval ship on Wednesday to assist the flotilla after alleged drone attacks.

Israel said Monday it would not allow the boats to reach Gaza, accusing the flotilla of serving the Hamas terror group. It said the flotilla could offload the aid in Ashkelon, from where it would be transferred to Gaza.

However, Israel insists that it will not be allowed to breach the naval blockade, which it imposed in 2007 in a bid to stop the import of weapons after Hamas overthrew the Palestinian Authority and took control of Gaza.

Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war in Gaza, which was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.

The war has sparked a dire humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with most of the population displaced. Israel has denied accusations that it is committing genocide, asserting that the operation aims to eliminate Hamas and return the hostages.