From the 'Food for Gaza' initiative to the mission to parachute aid, Italy's moves for the civilian population of the Strip

Faced with a humanitarian situation in the Strip that is becoming increasingly dramatic, Italy is proposing an initiative, 'Food for Gaza', to facilitate access to food aid, alleviate the suffering of the civilian population and guarantee food security in the area. The solution is intertwined with another initiative, which is being developed in the area of defence, under the umbrella of international missions: the operation 'Levant' . Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani clarified: '"Food for Gaza" is perfectly coordinated with Levant.

The aim of 'Levant', approved by the Council of Ministers and authorised by the parliament, is to provide contributions to deal with a potential escalation in the Israel-Hamas conflict . This includes humanitarian interventions in favour of the civilian population in the area, in line with the objectives defined by the EU Foreign Affairs Council at its meeting on 19 February 2024, which, while reaffirming Israel's right to defend itself in line with international law and international humanitarian law, emphasised the need for an immediate humanitarian pause that could lead to a sustainable ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

On Monday 11 March, Tajani met at the Farnesina with FAO Director Qu Dongyu, Pam Executive Director Cindy H. McCain and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Deputy Secretary General Xavier Castellanos. At the end of the meeting, the minister participated in a press conference to 'tell the story' of the project. Under the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the three Rome-based organisations will sit at a technical coordination table, which will meet once a week, with the aim of focusing on projects to work on together. The Civil Defence, which is already involved in the EU maritime corridor to Gaza, will also participate. "I will inform the G7 members, the EU, the Israeli government and the Palestinian National Authority of this initiative," Tajani explained, "We want to play a facilitating role.

The initiative outlines an alternative and parallel strategy to getting aid to the civilian population from the air. "With airdrops," stressed Pam Executive Director Cindy H. McCain, at the end of the meeting with Tajani, "we cannot reach all the people in Gaza, the only way to do it is through the Rafah crossing or by sea. We need 300 trucks to enter Gaza every day and we also need to enter through Israel; we need to open a port to allow humanitarian goods in. Only in this way can Pam and other humanitarian agencies end Gaza's slow drift towards starvation'. Also for the head of the Farnesina "the aid that is launched from the sky" on the Gaza Strip is not enough. According to Tajani "we need to increase the number of trucks entering through the Rafah crossing, today there are only a few dozen and they are absolutely not enough. Since there is little food there is unrest'.

In the background, Operation Levant. On the occasion of the government's communications in parliament on the new missions, among the objectives of the newly approved mission, Tajani also included that of "parachuting humanitarian material onto the Strip, in the same way as other partners (France and Jordan) are already doing".