ROME (ITALPRESS) – “Firm condemnation and strong indignation has aroused, in Italy and around the world, the barbaric attack conducted by Hamas against defenseless Israeli citizens last Oct. 7, 2023.One year later, great is the closeness and solidarity of the Italian Republic to the Israeli people so vilely struck.” This was written by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a message on the occasion of the first anniversary of Hamas attacks against citizens of Israel.
“In deploring once again that brutal act of terrorism,” he adds, “we participate with emotion in the grief of the families of the victims and renew our appeal that the people cruelly taken hostage with inhumane practice be freed and be reunited with their families. “In this year the effects of that tragedy have multiplied, affecting blameless populations in the entire area, while serious and unacceptable resurgences of anti-Semitic sentiments are spreading, which must be condemned and opposed with determination.”
“Italy,” he adds, “wholeheartedly supports Israel’s right to its existence in peace and security and to defense against attacks, in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law.
It is more necessary than ever to reach an immediate ceasefire in order to put an end to the sequence of horrors that have followed one after the other since October 7 last year and to avert the widening of the conflict, a prospect that the most recent events unfortunately make close and concrete.
There is deep concern for the condition of civilians in Gaza, whose people have suffered unspeakable grief and suffering and have a right to be removed from the destruction and violence of war.”
“What is needed,” he adds, “is a final negotiated settlement between Israel and Palestine that, with the help of the international community, provides for the creation of two sovereign and independent states. This is indispensable to guarantee lasting peace and security for the two peoples and the entire region, and to prevent the hostility, aversion and resentment that have accumulated in recent months from producing new and increasingly dramatic explosions of violence throughout the Middle East.
It is a responsibility that, while primarily the responsibility of Israelis and Palestinians, must see all peace-loving peoples active, so that the horror of the past will not be repeated, providing as of now to establish the terms of a future of understanding among all states in the region.”
-photo Quirinale press office.
(ITALPRESS).
Middle East, Mattarella “Renew call for release of hostages. Prevent widening of conflict”
