Foreign minister Antonio Tajani has outlined to Israel and Iraq Italy's new plan to coordinate the delivery vital aid to the blockaded and bombarded Gaza Strip, where half a million people face famine and the United Nations says children are starving to death.
"I presented the Italian government's 'Food for Gaza' scheme to Israeli's foreign minister @Israel_Katz and to PA foreign minister Riad Maliki," Tajani wrote Friday on X (formerly Twitter).
"We are working to facilitate the distribution of aid to civilians in Gaza," the tweet continued.
"Italy at the front line for peace: we want to strengthen humanitarian assistance and a pause in hostilities," the tweet underlined.
Italy launched the 'Food for Gaza' initiative this week with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, the UN World Food Programme and the International Federation of Red Cross-Red Crescent Societies.
Italy will work in partnership with the FAO, WFP and IFRC and lend its expertise to the scheme, which includes planned 'maritime corridors' from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip and a focus on food, health and protection, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Tajani had phone conversations with Katz and Maliki on Friday in which he told Katz a pause in hostilities is an essential step towards a ceasefire in Israel's five-month-old war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, the statement said.
Italy's government "strongly condemns" Hamas terrorism and backs Israel’s right to self-defence, but civilian populations must always be safeguarded during military action, Tajani told Katz.
The suffering of Gaza's civilians is "unacceptable", Tajani told Maliki. He said Italy will keep up its humanitarian efforts for the civilian population, including flying dozens of Palestinian children to Italy for treatment in the country's top paediatric hospitals.
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