ROME: An Italian supermarket chain says it has stopped selling Israeli products in solidarity with Palestinians affected by war and hunger in the Gaza Strip.

The decision, announced on Tuesday and the first for a major Italian food retailer, will mean that the Coop Alleanza 3.0 will remove Israeli peanuts, tahini sauce and SodaStream carbonated water makers from its shelves, a statement said.

In an additional sign of support for people in Gaza supermarkets have also started selling the pro-Palestinian Gaza Cola fizzy drink, the statement added.

Coop Alleanza 3.0 is the largest cooperative in the Coop Italia network, comprising almost 350 stores in eight Italian regions from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the north to Puglia in the south.

The cooperative `cannot remain indifferent to the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip and united in calling for the immediate cessation of military operations,` it said.

Coop supermarket chains in Florence and the central regions of Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria are also no longer stocking Israeliproducts, spokespeople said,insisting, however, that this did not amount to a formal boycott of Israeli products. The war in Gaza has triggered protests by some retailers and consumers internationally.

On Tuesday British food retailer the Co-op Group, a separate entity to Italy`s Coop, announced it would cease sourcing products from Israel and 16 other countries where it said there were human rights abuses and violations of international law.-Reuters