As Israel's military told 100,000 people to leave areas of Rafah on Monday ahead of an expected offensive against Hamas in the southern Gaza city, the region is deteriorating, Italy has warned
Foreign minister Antonio Tajani urged unstinting diplomatic efforts for a truce leading to negotiations on a two-state solution to the conflict between the Jewish State and the Palestinians.
"The diplomatic pressure was there, but Hamas then said no to any kind of agreement and attacked Israel again yesterday with missiles fired from Rafah," Tajani said Monday on the sidelines of an electoral meeting of his conservative Forza Italia party in Rome.
Medics and first responders in Gaza said 16 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Sunday, hours after Hamas rockets had killed three Israeli soldiers earlier in the day and injured a dozen others.
"So clearly there is no will to reach an agreement, even on the part of Hamas," Tajani continued.
"Hamas has to remember that it is using Gaza's civilian population as shields," he underlined.
The invitation by Israel's defence forces to people in Rafah to move towards an expanded humanitarian zone "signal a possible attack", Tajani warned.
"We have always insisted on the safety of the civilian population and all most now use the utmost caution," Tajani said.
"We hope a ceasefire and then the birth of those (two) states that mutually recognize each other. That is the goal, despite a worsening situation right now," he underlined.
A Hamas official said Sunday the group's delegation for Gaza truce talks in Cairo was heading to Qatar as truce talks with mediators in the Egyptian capital closed without a breakthrough. The Islamist group maintained its demand that any deal to release Israeli hostages must end the war in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
As recently as on Sunday Israel's hardline premier Binyamin Netanyahu continued to reject Hamas' demands, saying they would keep the group in power and pose a threat to the Jewish state.
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