Italian opposition party urges premier to speak against rising civilian deaths in Gaza

ATHENS

Italy's MS5 opposition party called on Prime Minister Georgia Meloni to express the country's frustration over mounting civilian casualties in Gaza by Israeli forces, local media announced on Thursday.

"I hope that Premier Giorgia Meloni will immediately phone (Israeli Premier) Netanyahu, to transmit the condemnation by the whole of Italy of the Israeli military action that has so far resulted in vast number of victims, 70% of whom are women and children," said the party’s leader Giuseppe Conte, according to the state-run ANSA news agency.

This is unacceptable, he added.

Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in an interim ruling this January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Israel has now announced plans for a ground invasion in Rafah, where more than 1 million people are sheltering, with world leaders ratcheting up pressure to abandon the offensive.

The South African government, meanwhile, has requested the ICJ to consider an intervention in Israel’s planned military operations in the Palestinian city.