Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said European countries are working for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Speaking in Beirut after meeting Friday with her Lebanese counterpart, Najib Mikati, Meloni said European nations also support negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October last year.
Mikati said “a diplomatic solution should overcome” war that has intensified in recent weeks into an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, and that Israel must agree to a ceasefire.
Meloni added that targeting UN peacekeepers deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border is unacceptable and that both sides must “ensure at all times the safety of each of these soldiers.” She stressed that the peacekeepers will be needed in any post-conflict scenario.
Over the past two weeks, UN posts along the border have been subjected to fire that that has wounded at least five peacekeepers.
Meloni said the peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, must be strengthened and that UNIFIL and Lebanese troops should be the only armed forces in the area south of the Litani river along the border with Israel.
According to a 2006 UN Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006, Hezbollah should have no presence in the area along the border with Israel.
