Italian foreign minister discusses Gaza war with British, French counterparts

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – The Italian foreign minister discussed the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict with his British and French counterparts, the Italian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Antonio Tajani proposed British Secretary of State David Cameron and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to define common forms of pressure at G7 level on the parties involved to achieve certain objectives, a statement by the ministry read.

“An absolute necessity is to immediately limit the number of Palestinian civilian victims. The second objective is to put pressure on the Israeli government to conclude the military operations, to give strength to the ‘difficult but unavoidable’ prospect of the ‘two states for two peoples’ solution,” Tajani emphasized during the phone calls.

“The G7 countries are working with the Israeli government to develop a rapid way out of the military phase, to return to diplomacy and politics. The guarantee of the survival and security of the State of Israel must be achieved, but we must quickly exit this phase and focus on the support of the Arab countries of the region,” he said.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 23,084 Palestinians have since been killed and 58,926 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.