The cross-border attack in which gunmen led by Gaza-ruling Islamist group Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages a year ago proves that the West's support for the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) was a mistake, according to Italy
"The hatred that surfaced on 7 October (2023) shows that the strategy (of spending hundreds of billions of western funds on Gaza) was a failure," deputy foreign minister Edmondo Cirielli said on Tuesday.
"And it shows it was certainly a mistake to support Unrwa in recent years, which at least in Gaza has shown itself to be completely subservient to, if not even in cahoots with Hamas,” Cirielli claimed.
Cirielli was addressing a conference organised by the ruling rightwing Brothers of Italy party at the Senate to mark the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks - the worst against Jews since World War II.
"October 7 showed what would happen to Israeli citizens if the army, its defence forces, did not exist on that territory: if there was no State of Israel with armed forces, Israeli citizens would be massacred and raped. There would be ethnic cleansing," said Cirielli.
"Despite the hundreds of billions of Western funds that have flowed in Gaza, including from Italy, they have failed to create a minimally civilised climate or humanity," Cirielli added.
An independent review commissioned by the UN concluded in April that Israel had not provided enough evidence to support its accusation that a "significant" number of Unrwa employees in the Gaza Strip belong to terrorist organisations.
A separate investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Service is probing Israel's more incendiary claim that a dozen Unrwa employees took part in the 7 October attacks on Israel.
Over a dozen international donors, including the United States suspended about 450 million dollars of funding to Unrwa after Israel's allegations in February. Some countries have since restored funding.
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