Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto both voiced dismay Wednesday at Tuesday night's bombing of a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of people.
Hamas blamed the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital on an Israeli airstrike while the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) blamed misfired rockets from Gaza's second biggest militant group, Islamic Jihad.
Tajani said on X: "Dismay and grief for the hundreds of victims at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. The protection of the civilian population, also in a conflict, must be the absolute priority".
Crosetto, for his part, also took to X to call on the international community to protect civilians.
"We watched in dismay what happened last night. The bomb that hit the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of defenceless Palestinians and wounded the conscience of us all.
"The international community must protect innocent civilians and punish Hamas".
Before the al-Alhi Hospital deaths, belived to be about 500, Israeli strikes on Gaza killed at least 3,478 people and wounded more than 12,00, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and nearly two-thirds of those killed were children. Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead, health authorities said.
More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians who were slain in Hamas' October 7 surprise attack across the Gaza-Israel border.
The assault also resulted in some 200 being taken captive into Gaza.
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