Farnesina: Two trucks of Italian humanitarian aid entered Gaza after several days of waiting thanks to the “Food for Gaza” initiative.

After weeks of waiting Two more trucks of Italian aid entered Gaza last night: are food aids organized by the initiative “Food for Gaza” and entrusted in Jordan to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO). The Italian aid, consisting of just over 49 tons of food for a total of 72 pallets, include rice, pasta, salt, legumes and other food items that will be distributed to the Palestinian civilian population to help address food insecurity.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani commented by saying that "the aid that has entered Gaza is still a small drop compared to the needs of the population of Gaza. This is why for weeks we have been asking the Israeli government not only to facilitate the entry of medical and food aid as much as possible, but also to stop military actions in Gaza to allow the release of all Israeli hostages and to assist the nearly two million citizens of Gaza who have been involved in military operations for almost a year now. In the Food for Gaza initiative we have decided to involve not only FAO, WFP and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, but also the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority with the aim of coordinating humanitarian efforts”.

The pallets had been loaded onto three trucks and transported to a collection center run by the Jordanian armed forces on September 18th. During the following day the vehicles were subject to armed forces screening Jordanian and in the evening the convoy moved towards the King Hussein border crossing. During the night the vehicles crossed the border and subsequently reached the Erez crossing, through which they entered Gaza.

The material was delivered to the organization Rahma Worldwide, JHCO's main partner for the distribution of humanitarian aid inside the Strip. Before leaving Jordanian territory, one of the trucks of the JHCO on which the aid had been loaded suffered a technical failure, has returned to base in Jordan waiting to organize a new trip with the next available convoy. Another 70 tons of aid collected in Italy, including medicines, are still in Italy waiting to understand what the next possibilities for crossing the borders will be.