In the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a speech during a political conference in the seaside town of Rimini on Wednesday, August 27, that her government condemned the “unjustifiable” killing of journalists in Gaza.
At least 20 people were killed in an attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, August 25. Among the dead in the deadly Israeli attack were five journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and others.
“It is an unacceptable attack on press freedom and on all those who courageously risk their lives to report on the tragedy of war,” Meloni said at the political conference, according to Reuters.
Meloni was one of the latest Western leaders to condemn Monday’s Israeli attack, which has drawn international criticism. Israel had previously said that journalists were not its target in the attack on Nasser Hospital.
Israel is preparing to launch a new military operation in Gaza City, which it describes as the last bastion of Hamas (also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement), according to Reuters. About half the population of the enclave currently lives there, and the IDF said residents would be asked to evacuate to safer areas before the military operation begins.
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“We did not hesitate to defend Israel, but at the same time we cannot remain silent now in the face of a reaction that has gone far beyond the principle of proportionality, killing innocent victims and threatening Christian communities, jeopardising the historic (two-state) solution,” Meloni Said.
The Italian PM has urged Israel to end its military occupation of Gaza, and she has called for aid to be allowed into the Palestinian enclave and for settlement expansion in the West Bank to be halted.
Reuters’s reporting contributed to this article.