Coming back from his mission to Bratislava, where he participated in the Ministerial Meeting of the “Friends of the Western Balkans”, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will be at Fiumicino Airport this afternoon to welcome the first group of Palestinian university students who left the Gaza Strip yesterday as part of the “university corridors” operation, facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to enable young Palestinians to continue their academic studies at Italian universities.
Fifty-nine students will arrive in Rome today, while the others will arrive in Milan tomorrow. The young Palestinians, who left the Gaza Strip through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, were transferred to Jordan and hosted at the Italian Hospital in Amman before departing for Italy. The students will study in 21 Italian universities and the University of San Marino, as part of the programme “IUPALS” (Italian Universities for Palestinian Students), promoted by the Conference of Italian University Rectors in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of University and Research.
Minister Tajani said: “The Foreign Ministry, together with the Embassies in Tel Aviv and Amman and the Consulate General in Jerusalem, has been working on this operation for some time. It has been a complex process, also due to the difficult conditions on the ground, but thanks to the commitment and determination of the men and women working for the institutions, we have managed to bring these young people safely to Italy and offer them an opportunity for study and for a future.”
With the operation underway, the number of students evacuated from Gaza since September 2025 has risen to 229: 157 students had already been evacuated in the four operations carried out between September and December of last year, who add to the 72 students who left the Gaza Strip yesterday.
The Foreign Ministry is also working to carry out further operations in the coming months, in coordination with the Israeli and Jordanian authorities, to enable other Palestinian students to reach Italy and continue their studies safely.
