Flotilla to Gaza, four Italian parliamentarians on board. The case of the Israeli planes at Sigonella

There will also be four Italian parliamentarians on board one of the boats departing from Italy on 7 September of the Global Sumud Flottilla, the naval initiative aiming to challenge the blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver aid. Some 30 boats, carrying more than 300 activists from 44 countries, including Greta Thunberg, left the port of Barcelona on Sunday, but had to return there at dawn on Monday due to adverse weather conditions. Initially the date for gathering in international waters off Tunisia with the other activist fleets from various Mediterranean ports, including Genoa, Sicily, Tunis and Greece was Thursday 4 September, but the schedule is subject to weather and sea conditions. The estimate is to reach the Gaza Strip within 14 days.

"I announce that with us will leave the Avs MEP Benedetta Scuderi and three members of two other parties, MEP Arturo Scotto of the Pd, MEP Annalisa Corrado of the Pd, Senator Marco Croatti of the M5s. They decided to put their bodies. Imagine how important this is,' said Maria Elena Delia, spokesperson for the Italian delegation of Global Movement to Gaza at a conference in the Senate sponsored by the M5s. "The boats from Italy will leave, instead of 4 September, on 7 September, because the Spanish boats are delayed, so we will be able to meet together at a meeting point and from there sail together to reach the waters in front of the Gaza Strip, which are under Palestinian sovereignty,' Delia further explained.

The tension is palpable, especially after Israeli Security Minister Ben Gvir predicted treatment equal to that of terrorists for those arrested during the mission. "We fear for our safety, but we take courage. The Palestinian people teach us this,' admits the Italian spokeswoman of the Global Movement, urging Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to be more firm in protecting the Italians on board. "We expect drones, blockades, interceptions. We expect to be boarded and kidnapped,' he explains. 'Because what for the Israeli navy is arrest for us is kidnapping as we will be in international waters. Tajani said 'I don't think there are terrorists on the Flotilla. Come and meet us so we can be sure'.

M5s leader Giuseppe Conte to urge the government to 'give diplomatic protection to those who will be on those boats, as Spain has done'. A request joined by PD secretary Elly Schlein. She has written a letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in which she asks to be 'informed about what the Italian government intends to do to guarantee protection and safety for all the crew of the humanitarian mission, in case of need'.

The Corrado MEP addresses the Head of State directly: 'Dear President Mattarella, I invoke your protection for me and for all those who will leave with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Over the years you have been a bulwark of our wonderful Constitution and the values it represents: today more than ever we need your authority". The Global Sumud Flotilla "is the most incredible and generous non-violent, unarmed, peaceful initiative in recent history. It is the Noah's ark of our time, and it is being done by people, from below, with incredible courage'. Corrado strongly rejects the accusations of anti-Semitism levelled at the mission: 'Nothing is more false. I learnt to fight against injustice as a child, listening to the stories of my partisan grandmother. She told me how so many, without any superpower and with so much fear, refused to turn away. If the constituent mothers and fathers were here today, I am sure they would be on those boats, defending the oppressed from the oppressors.