President Joe Biden hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House and discussed the situation in Gaza on Friday. This was the second meeting between the two leaders in seven months.
The President and Prime Minister were seated next to each other in the Oval Office during the conversation.
“Innocent people got caught in a terrible war unable to feed their families, and you saw the response when they tried to get aid,” said Biden.
“But we need to do more, and the United States will do more. In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends from Jordan and others to provide airdrops of supplies into Ukraine and seek to open up other avenues into Ukraine, including the possibility of a marine corridor delivering large amounts of humanitarian assistance.”
The president misspoke when he said Ukraine; he meant Gaza, which he later clarified as he spoke.
Biden doesn’t believe that the amount of aid flowing into Gaza will mitigate the situation, as the Palestinians’ “lives are on the line.”
He added, “In addition to expanding deliveries by land, as I said, we’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need.”
Meloni spoke about the conflict in Gaza too, calling it of the “utmost” concern.
“We need to coordinate our actions in order to avoid an escalation, and in this regard, we do fully support the US mediation Air Force. The humanitarian crisis is our number one priority,” said Meloni. The prime minister noted that Italy is focusing its contribution on the humanitarian crisis.
“Meanwhile, we are cooperating with all regional actors that must be part of any future outcome,” said Meloni. “We should work together on concrete steps to guarantee the two-state perspective, which is the only long-term sustainable solution. And then the root is attack on commercial vessels that are in danger of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea are unacceptable.”
Biden and Meloni hope to find some compromise with the conflicting Middle East parties.
“We are trying to work out a deal between Israel and Hamas — the hostages being returned and the immediate ceasefire in Gaza for at least the next six weeks, and to allow the surge of aid to the entire Gaza Strip, not just the south,” said Biden.
Some other points discussed by Meloni involve human trafficking in Africa, and suggested an alliance to put an end to this problem.
“We need to support Africa’s development on anything but bases and portals and an illegal migration while fighting human trafficking. Human trafficking has become the most financially rewarding trying to move away, and we cannot accept it. No any longer for this reason I came here today also with a proposal to launch a global alliance against human trafficking,” said Meloni.
Besides the conversations revolving around Gaza and Africa, the purpose of Meloni’s visit is due to the Italian presidency for the G7. According to Italian officials, Meloni’s Washington visit was to share the priorities of Italy’s G7 presidency.
These include:
- defense of the rules-based international system and continuous support for Ukraine
- the conflict in the Middle East, with its consequences on the global agenda
- priority attention to Africa
- with the aim of building a partnership model beneficial to all
- continued focus on the Indo-Pacific region; the importance of migration issues; artificial intelligence
