(Adnkronos) – Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas will be in Rome on 7 November for talks with the Italian government aimed at strengthening the PA, foreign minister Antonio Tajani told the lower house of parliament.
“We are ready to welcome President Abbas in Rome on 7 November to take forward dialogue and to work together to strengthen the PA ahead of (war-wrecked) Gaza’s reconstruction,” Tajani said.
Tajani was briefing MPs on the situation in the Gaza Strip amid a two-year-old Israeli military offensive against ruling Islamist Palestinian group Hamas which has killed over 66,000 people and reduced most of the enclave to rubble.
Italy supports US president Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza which includes an immediate cessation of fighting, the release of 20 Israeli hostages believed still be alive and the disarming of Hamas, Tajani told MPs.
“I underline our government’s support for the US initiative put to Israel,” he said.
“This already received the backing of the PA and many other countries,” Tajani said.
Italy is working with Turkey and Qatar to convince Hamas to accept Trump’s peace plan, Tajani noted.