Italy will transport 100 Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip by plane and ship and provide them with hospital treatment in an operation that will begin in the coming days, Defense Minister Guido Crossetto announced on Wednesday.
The first 30 children will be flown in from Egypt seeking refuge and medical assistance after fleeing Israeli military bombing of the neighboring Gaza enclave, Crossett said.
Another 30 people are scheduled to arrive in Italy with their families at the end of January aboard the warship Vulcano, which will depart from the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. Crossett did not say when or how the remaining 40 children would be transferred.
On October 7, militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, crossed the border into towns and bases in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages. , more than 25,700 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli army launched a full-scale war.
“We cannot remain indifferent in the face of a serious humanitarian crisis,” Crozet said in a statement, adding that Italy’s move was “more of a moral obligation than a political one.”
The children will be treated at hospitals in Bologna, Florence, Genoa and Rome, the statement said.
Italy initially supported Israel’s war against Hamas, saying it had the right to defend itself following the October 7 attack, and avoided criticizing the Israeli government despite the rising death toll in Gaza. It’s here.
Crossett said the children’s transfers would be organized from al-Arish, which is less than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Rafah border into Gaza and serves as an international coordination center for humanitarian aid.
About 1,000 Gaza residents are being treated on a French warship that has become a field hospital anchored off the coast of Egypt, the ship’s captain said on Sunday.