Italy sends 15 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza

The aid, which was collected from donors by the charity Confederazione Nazionale delle Misericordie d’Italia, took off aboard a C-130J military aircraft from an airfield in the central city of Pisa.

An Italian charity has sent 15 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza for distribution among the civilian population.

“We will continue to do everything possible to alleviate the suffering of the population of Gaza. Italy does not forget those who suffer,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a post on X.

The plane will first fly to the airport in Larnaca on Cyprus and the aid will be transferred from there to Gaza by sea.

The aid will be shipped to the Strip via the Cyprus Maritime Corridor, an initiative of the Cypriot government in coordination with the United Nations and international partners such as the European Union.

The aid is expected to arrive at the Israeli port of Ashdod. Israel has long been criticised for impeding the flow of aid into Gaza, something it has always denied.

On Thursday, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, “in the last two days alone six attempts to deliver lifesaving assistance to besieged areas in North Gaza governorate were blocked.”

The office said that 79% of Gaza’s population is under active evacuation orders, complicating aid deliveries, and accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

Israel denies obstructing aid

COGAT, the Israeli agency that tracks and records all aid transferred into Gaza, maintains aid is flowing into the Strip, primarily via the Kerem Shalom, Erez and Kissufim crossings. Kissufim was opened for aid deliveries on Tuesday.

According to data published on the COGAT website, more than 1.1 million tonnes of aid has passed into Gaza since the start of the war in October last year. Israel accuses Hamas of impeding aid deliveries or of stealing aid to sell on.

“In a moment of such profound suffering for the population of Gaza, we felt the moral duty to make a concrete contribution to the local community,” said Misericordie president, Domenico Giani.

“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza requires constant and coordinated commitment from the international community. It is necessary to act not only to address immediate needs, such as the distribution of food aid, but also to address the root causes of the conflict and promote a lasting solution that guarantees human rights and the safety of all citizens.”

Earlier this year, the Italian government launched its Food for Gaza initiative with an initial €12 million donation.

That initiative, led by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with key humanitarian actors such as the World Food Programme and Red Cross, aims to strengthen collaboration and facilitate access to food assistance in order to alleviate the suffering of the population and improve food security in the Gaza Strip.

Cities across Italy have seen months of protests, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and criticising the Italian government for continuing to export arms to Israel.

Italy, considered the third biggest foreign supplier of arms to Israel after the US and Germany, assured in the wake of the 7 October attacks that it would cease to supply arms to Israel.

But in March this year, the Italian Defence Ministry acknowledged orders signed before 7 October had been delivered during the war, despite Italian law banning the export of lethal weapons to countries at war.

“After the start of operations in Gaza, the government immediately suspended all new export licences and all agreements signed after 7 October were not implemented,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the Senate on Tuesday.

“I want to recall that the Italian policy of completely blocking of all new licences is much more restrictive than that applied by our partners – France, Germany and United Kingdom. These partners continue to use case-by-case assessments, including for new licences. We have blocked everything.”

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