Mattarella: "The situation in Gaza is increasingly intolerable. A ceasefire is needed."

"The situation in Gaza is becoming dramatically more serious and intolerable day by day. And we hope that the announced pauses will be matched by effective ceasefires." During the Fan Ceremony, President Sergio Mattarella returned to the Middle East, recalling what he had said two months earlier: that "the Israeli government's refusal to respect humanitarian law in Gaza is unacceptable." On that occasion, the Head of State recalled, "I expressed alarm at the sowing of suffering and resentment that is being produced, which, besides being unjust, contradicts any genuine need for security. What has happened in the weeks since is even more shocking."

Among the global challenges facing humanity is "a widespread tendency toward irreducible opposition, intolerance of opinions different from one's own, and refuge in superficial slogans and prejudices, among which the very serious resurgence of anti-Semitism, which also feeds on stupidity," Mattarella continues, emphasizing that "the incredible bombing of the Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza has been defined as a mistake. For many centuries, from Seneca to St. Augustine, we have been reminded that 'to err is human, to persevere is diabolical.' Errors have also been spoken of in the shooting of ambulances and the killing of doctors and nurses who were assisting the wounded, in the targeting and killing of thirsty children queuing for water, in the killing of so many hungry people queuing for food, in the destruction of hospitals, including the killing of children hospitalized for malnutrition."

For the Head of State, "it is difficult, in such a chain, to see an involuntary repetition of mistakes and not recognize a determination to kill indiscriminately. A condition emblematically depicted by the child admitted with his mother to an Italian hospital, after losing his father and nine siblings—all children—in the bombing of his home."