Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has denounced the deaths of five journalists who were among at least 20 people killed when Israel struck Gaza’s Nasser Hospital on Monday. Calling the incident an “unjustifiable” and “unacceptable attack on press freedom,” she said the bombing underscored the need to protect civilians and reporters covering the conflict. In a speech in Rimini on Wednesday, Meloni urged Israel to exercise proportionality, end its military occupation of Gaza and halt settlement expansion in the West Bank. She also pressed for unimpeded humanitarian aid deliveries to the enclave, where the war has displaced roughly half of Gaza’s two-million residents. Meloni’s remarks make her one of the latest Western leaders to publicly criticise Israel’s conduct as the Israel Defense Forces prepare a new offensive in Gaza City. Israel has said the journalists were not the intended target of the hospital strike.