In meeting with Sa’ar, top Italian diplomat says Rome will no longer work with UNRWA

Meeting with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Ashdod Port, Italy’s top diplomat Antonio Tajani says his country will not work with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

“We don’t want to work with UNRWA and we condemn the use of UNRWA offices as a prison for Israeli hostages,” says Tajani.

The mother of freed hostage Emily Damari said last week that her daughter had been held at UNRWA facilities in Gaza.

Sa’ar says at the joint press conference that the UN Human Rights Council “acted in the most outrageous way possible.”

“They were biased, they were obsessive, you can say they were antisemites because they used double standards with regards to our state.”

Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani:

“We don’t want to work with UNRWA and we condemn the use of UNRWA offices as a prison for Israeli hostages”

Thank you @Antonio_Tajani for this decisive message! pic.twitter.com/EpUjIa3iBr

— Oren Marmorstein (@OrenMarmorstein) February 6, 2025

Sa’ar announced this week that Israel would no longer participate in the UNHRC, following the US’s withdrawal.

Sa’ar hints that US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the Gaza Strip should be taken seriously.

“Today, it is important to listen carefully to new ideas that have been proposed and to think outside the box,” he says.

“Gaza is a failed experiment. It failed under Egyptian sovereignty. It failed when handed to the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords. Ever since we saw terrorism rise. It has certainly failed under Hamas,” he argues. “Gaza, in its current state, has no future.”

“We must try to find a different solution,” Sa’ar says. “We must take a new approach.”