Italy and Spain have deployed military ships to assist an international aid flotilla that has come under drone attack while trying to deliver aid to Gaza, potentially ratcheting up tensions with Israel, which strongly opposes the initiative.
The moves come as Israeli forces yesterday advanced deeper into Gaza City as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to New York to address the UN.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Many lawyers, lawmakers and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, are on board.
Photo: AFP
Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto yesterday said his country had sent one ship and another was on its way, primarily to offer assistance to Italians aboard the flotilla.
He also urged activists to abandon plans to breach the blockade.
“It is not an act of war, it is not a provocation: It is an act of humanity, which is a duty of a state towards its citizens,” he told the Italian Senate on the decision to send navy ships.
Italy had proposed a compromise whereby aid supplies could be dropped off in Cyprus and handed over to the Catholic Church’s Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which would then distribute them in Gaza.
However, the Italian delegation rejected that suggestion on behalf of the flotilla.
Italy sent a first frigate on Wednesday, hours after the flotilla said it was targeted by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels as they sailed in international waters 30 nautical miles (56km) off the Greek island of Gavdos. No one was hurt, but some damage was caused to the vessels.
Spain yesterday also said it was sending a military warship to assist the flotilla, joining Italy in an unprecedented move by European governments.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes yesterday killed at least 19 people across the Palestinian enclave, local health authorities said.
They included 11 people from two families in Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip, where planes hit a residential building.
Israel’s military did not comment on the incident, but said it had struck 170 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours and attacked “terror infrastructure” used by militant groups to attack soldiers.
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