With protests in the streets and a slew of Western nations recognizing a state of Palestine, Italy is finding it difficult to maintain its cautious position on the Gaza conflict.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government is "on the wrong side of history", the main opposition party said this week, as countries including Britain, Canada and France recognized Palestinian statehood.
For months Meloni -- unwilling to break ranks with US President Donald Trump -- has insisted the time is not right.
This week she signalled a shift, saying she was in favour of statehood on two conditions: the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the exclusion of the militant group from Palestinian governance.
"Israel has no right to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state tomorrow," she said in a speech to the UN Wednesday in which she condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza as "disproportionate".
Italy's left-wing Repubblica daily acknowledged Thursday that "in terms of political symbols, the Meloni government has ended its immobilism".
But that does not put it in line with Paris, it warned. Rather, Rome "is maintaining its own independent stance, similar to that of Washington and Berlin".
Popular pressure
Meanwhile, public anger over the government's perceived inertia has been growing.
On Monday, tens of thousands of people, including high school and university students, demonstrated across Italy to denounce "the genocide in Gaza".
Local initiatives in support of Gaza have also been growing in the Catholic country, which has a strong pacifist tradition.
"We have to do something. It's been two years since anything has been done, and Meloni is still finding excuses not to recognize the Palestinian state", Roberta Paolini, 53, told AFP during a demonstration Wednesday evening in Milan.
Some 87.8 percent of Italians are in favour of recognizing a Palestinian state, according to an Izi poll published Wednesday.
And that number remains high -- 73 percent -- among voters who support the governing coalition parties.
"For a government that has always presented itself as representing a direct expression of popular sovereignty, these numbers count," the Stampa daily said in an editorial Wednesday.
In an extra headache for Meloni, there are also around 60 Italians -- including four members of parliament -- on a Gaza-bound flotilla which aims to break the Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to the famine-hit territory.
Though the PM has slammed the activists as "irresponsible", Rome dispatched a naval ship Wednesday to assist the flotilla after alleged drone attacks.
'Extremely complex'
Political commentator Maurizio Caprara bemoaned to AFP the superficiality of public and political debate in Italy, saying it was "subject to the logic of social media" and lacked "historical memory".
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "an extremely complex problem, for which waving a flag will not be enough to achieve peace," he said.
But judges and lawyers across the country have launched an appeal for the "defense of international law and human rights" in Gaza, while "Priests Against Genocide" organize prayer vigils. Pressure is also growing in government offices, with some 300 officials from the foreign affairs ministry penning a letter to Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressing "deep unease" over Italy's position on the conflict, according to the Repubblica daily.
Opposition parties accuse the government of purposefully dragging its feet over the conflict, sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.
"What are you waiting for? For there to be nothing and no-one left to recognize in Palestine?" PD leader Elly Schlein asked Thursday during a parliamentary debate.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
