The G7 must push Israel to end its three-month-old military offensive in Gaza, slash civilian casualties and accept that a two-state solution to its long-running conflict with the Palestinians is "inevitable", according to Italy
"An absolute necessity is to curb the number of Palestinian civilian casualties immediately," foreign minister Antonio Tajani said, according a statement.
Tajani was speaking to his UK and French counterparts David Cameron and Catherine Colonna in phone talks on Monday within the framework of Italy's G7 presidency, which kicked off on 1 January.
"A second objective is to put pressure on the Israeli government to end military operations, in view of strengthening the difficult but inescapable prospect of the 'two states for two peoples' solution," the statement said.
The widening Middle East conflict sparked by the Israel-Hamas war topped the agenda of the phone talks and Tajani urged Cameron and Colonna "to define common forms of pressure – at G7 level – on the parties involved," said the statement.
G7 countries are working with the Israeli government "to find a quick way out of the military phase and return to diplomacy and politics," Tajani told Cameron and Colonna, the statement said.
"The survival and security of the State of Israel must be ensured, but we must quickly exit this phase and focus on the support of the Arab countries in the region," the statement underlined.
