In an interview with the newspaper Il Tempo, Crosetto noted that ‟I cannot pretend that I don’t see the dramatic situation the Palestinian people are suffering,” since the argument of the war against Hamas ‟does not make morally acceptable the death of innocent people, the blockade of humanitarian aid, and the lack of food and medical care” in Gaza.

The defense minister also stated that ‟we cannot think that anyone is justified in committing acts against innocent people,” adding that ‟inadvertent errors can be forgiven, but the normality of collateral damage cannot and should not be accepted, even less so when it becomes the main cause.”

The senior official explained that his government supports “Israel’s right to security,” but in light of the Tel Aviv massacre in Gaza, where more than 53,000 Palestinians have already died, “it will never cease to strongly affirm that respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of innocent lives must always prevail”, he assured.

“I find it difficult to understand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attitude” in inflicting “these deaths and sufferings on innocent civilians,” Crosetto added, reaffirming that “Italy has always firmly supported the two-people, two-state solution, the only possible path to a lasting and just peace.”

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