Rome:

G7 ministers meeting in Italy next week will discuss the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Friday, saying the issue required further analysis.

Israel and its allies denounced the ICC’s decision on Thursday to issue an arrest warrant for the Israeli premier, even as Turkey — and rights groups — welcomed the move.

Meloni’s hard-right coalition government appeared divided.

Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday that Italy would have to arrest Israel’s premier if he visited, only for Meloni’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, to say Netanyahu would be welcome in Italy.

“In the coming days I will delve deeper into the reasons that led to the ICC’s decision. Reasons that should always be objective and not political in nature,” Meloni said in a statement.

She said the issue would be put on the agenda of a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers in Fiuggi, near Rome, on Monday and Tuesday.

The ICC also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu’s former defence minister and for Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.

“One point remains clear from this government — there cannot be an equivalence between the responsibility of the state of Israel and the terrorist organisation Hamas,” Meloni said.

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