Following Iran's un precedented drone and missile attack against Israel on Saturday, G7 president Italy is urging all sides in the Middle East to "show moderation" and avoid a "tragic escalation" in the volatile region.
Iran's attack on Israel “raises the utmost concern in a context of major escalation, in which any further hostile action could trigger a wider conflict likely to involve the entire region," foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.
"In this extremely fragile situation, Italy is making every effort to urge all actors in the region to show moderation," Tajani told a meeting of Arab League and Organisation for Islamic Cooperation representatives at the foreign ministry.
The government is working for dialogue and cooperation with the goal of achieving Middle East peace and stability, Tajani told the meeting, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Tajani's address condemned "any form of reprisal and aggression that could provoke a dramatic escalation in the Middle East region - to the political and economic and commercial detriment of all nations involved", the statement said.
Tajani also focussed on the grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the six-month-old Israeli military offensive and the urgent need to ramp up aid to civilians in the bombarded, blockaded Palestinian enclave, the statement noted.
Italy's top diplomat then recalled his personal commitment and that of the government to the 'Food for Gaza' initiative launched this Spring with the Rome-based UN agencies FAO and World Food Programme, as well as with the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the statement said.
“Faced with escalating tensions, the promotion of dialogue and diplomacy remains the key to facilitating solutions that prioritise humanity and cooperation over prolonged discord," Tajani stated.
But there can be no solution to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza without the full involvement of all regional actors and the acceptance of the principle of two peoples and two states, coexisting in mutual recognition and respect, Tajani argued.
Tuesday's gathering in Rome was "a useful opportunity for dialogue and an exchange of views" ahead of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting on the island of Capri on Wednesday through Friday, April, Tajani concluded.
