A flight carrying humanitarian aid donated by the Italian Cooperation for the people of Gaza will leave the United Nations base in Brindisi tomorrow for Tel Aviv airport
The plane, which will also be carrying Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, will deliver 30 tonnes of emergency supplies include tents, blankets, emergency power generators, drinking water converters and healthcare and hygiene kits valued at an approximate overall 350,000 euro.
After arriving in Tel Aviv, the supplies will be distributed through the United Nations to the most vulnerable segments of the Palestinian population – women, children and the elderly – who are suffering the most serious consequences of the conflict under way.
“As we await the conditions for a permanent ceasefire”, Deputy Minister Pistelli stated, “Italy is making tangible its solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are paying the highest price for the hostilities”.
The humanitarian flight is part of the wider emergency aid plan for the people of Gaza, Minister Mogherini announced in Parliament this morning, the sum total of which has to date surpassed 2 million euro.
Italy will be launching new humanitarian initiatives in the near future, based on how the security situation in the Gaza Strip develops.
Ahead of the donors conference planned for Oslo in early September, it is Italy’s intention to earmark additional resources for the Gaza humanitarian crisis, equal to approximately 2.5 million euro.
Those funds will go to finance incisive social interventions on behalf of the Palestinian people, which are to be realised by Italian NGOs operating locally, as well as in collaboration with the Palestinian Red Crescent and agencies of the UN system.
