Group of 7 (G7) foreign ministers meeting in Munich held a minute's silence for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Saturday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani's office said, Paralel.Az reports citing Agenzie Nova.

"We demand the immediate release of the hostages and ask for a suspension of the fighting to help the population of Gaza, victims of Hamas"

On the Middle East "the G7 position aims to guarantee the security of the State of Israel: we ask for the immediate release of the hostages and we ask for a suspension of the fighting to help the population of Gaza, victims of Hamas". This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, during a press conference on the sidelines of the Security Conference in Munich.

“We support the work of the Palestinian National Authority and ask for a reform of the Authority to be a protagonist in Gaza”, underlined Tajani, who added: “The political solution is that of 'two peoples and two States'”.

We are concerned about what happens in the Red Sea. “We have a duty to defend transport,” said the minister. “Together we underlined the importance of the action – which we will definitively decide on Monday – which leads to the Aspides maritime operation, in which Italy will have the military command”, added Tajani, recalling that it is “a defense operation ”.

For Tajani in the Middle East “this carnage must end. It was a real Jew hunt, with behavior reminiscent of the times of the Holocaust, perhaps even worse." “Hamas is a terrorist and criminal organization that bears responsibility for what happened and for the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. We asked Israel to have a proportionate reaction. There are too many deaths among Palestinian civilians,” concluded the minister.