DEFENCE MINISTRY: DEFENCE MINISTER GUIDO CROSETTO MET WITH ISRAELI FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER ISRAEL KATZ

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Defence Minister Guido Crosetto today met with Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz in Rome, at the Italian Ministry of Defence.

At the end of the meeting, Minister Crosetto undescored: "Italy is a friend of Israel; that’s what we were when the country was struck by Hamas barbaric terrorist attack, and what we are now, at this time of hardship characterized by a worrying international crisis and growing instabiity in the Middle East. Today I have expressed to Minister Katz my friendship as well as my concern on the developments of the conflict in Gaza. Moreover, I reiterated that peace is based on respecting rules and international law and human rights: all that applies to all of us.  Wars must be fought by armies, it must not hit the civilian population, especially children and weaker, defenseless people.  Enduring peace exists only when lawfulness is re-established and fundamental rights are respected; when two peoples and two states can coexist, with dignity and in mutual respect. At a time of such strong military clashes, when the whole area is affected by tensions, a truce would be an important step in everybody’s interest,  to protect the people. With equal determination, I have also clarified that to achieve a truce followed by peace, all Israeli civilians who have been  held hostage since October 7 must be freed as soon as possible. In the meantime, Italy is actively working to seek a solution to the conflict and to mitigate the sufferings of the Palestinian civilian popilation. We have been using our Armed Forces to rescue civilians from the very beginning”. 
Then, Minister Crosetto continued: “As regards the northern front, i.e. the Israeli-Lebanese border, I expressed Italy’s great concern for the possible involvement of a country that was already struck so hard. We are a major contributor of the UNIFIL mission, whose task is to prevent the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah from turning into a conflict,  with dire consequences for the population and the risk to destabilize the whole Meddle East. That is why I have asked Minister Katz to manage provocations and avoid implementing  strategies that may lead to a dangerous escalation”. 

Italy  was one of the first countries to deliver aid to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip: we first sent our Vulcano Navy Ship  to serve as a hospital to rescue the wounded and treat the sick; subsequently, 3 humanitarian flight transported Palestinian children needing treatment to Italian childrens’ hospitals. Within this context, the Parliament endorsed Operation  “Levante”, which provides for the Armed Forces to be engaged in humanitarian interventions, provide security  and offer a window of opportunity to diplomacy and peace.