Italy was suspending its defence agreement with Israel, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday.
“In view of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel,” Meloni said on the sidelines of an event in Verona, according to ANSA.
The pact includes cooperation on military equipment and technology research. Its suspension comes as Italy faces intensifying domestic criticism over its ties to Israel, particularly over the war on Gaza and escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Aggression against Italians in Israeli occupied territories
Last week Italy summoned Israel’s ambassador following an incident in Lebanon in which Israel fired shots at a vehicle belonging to UN peacekeepers, damaging it; the unit included Italian personnel.
In an earlier incident in late January, Rome summoned the ambassador after two Italian military policemen were threatened at gunpoint during a field visit in the occupied West Bank.
According to Italy’s foreign ministry, the officers — traveling in a diplomatic vehicle — were forced to kneel and subjected to questioning by an armed Israeli believed to be an illegal settler.
