The Italian navy ship Vulcano, equipped with a hospital and operating theatres, is being deployed to the Middle East to receive wounded people from Gaza, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Wednesday.
The ship was due to set sail from the Lazio port of Civitavecchia on Wednesday afternoon and would carry 170 people, of whom 30 naval medical staff.
Another 30 or so military personnel from all the armed forces, would be brought in by plane.
"We want to deploy (the ship) close to the areas affected by the war" between Israel and Hamas ino order "to send clear signals of what Italy thinks and how Italy intends to move towards the Palestinian people", said Crosetto.
"After the words spoken in recent weeks of closeness to the Palestinian people and distance from Hamas, we want to make a concrete gesture," he added.
Crosetto also said that a field hospital would also be sent "directly to Gaza in agreement with the Palestinians".
These are, added Crosetto, "initiatives that have been shared with other European, NATO and Arab countries, saying that the doors of both the ship and of the future field hospital are open to everyone's contribution".
"We are the first to carry out a humanitarian operation in that area and we hope other countries will follow suit," said the minister.
Crosetto also said he believed the decision to deploy the navy hospital ship " is welcomed by both Palestinians and Israelis".
"No one can have anything to say about humanitarian aid, beyond the 'colour' of the ship," he added.
It is, he concluded, "a concrete signal. We are close to the Palestinian people not only in words but also in deeds".
At the end of last month Italy sent two batches of humanitarian aid on military planes to Egypt for distribution through the Egyptian Red Crescent to the suffering civilian population in Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
"We were the first to ask for the Rafah crossing to be opened and send humanitarian aid with two C130s," insisted Crosetto.
"In their activity the premier and the government are continuing to try to douse the flames," he added.
In late October Premier Giorgia Meloni stressed the need to "combat a humanitarian crisis that impacts defenceless civilians who bear no responsibility", and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke of "a moral mission" and the "need for humanitarian supplies from the whole world, in sufficient quantity to live in dignity".
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