Mideast: Rome roundtable set to boost Gaza food, humanitarian aid, mull reconstruction

22 Gennaio 2025

(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani is on Wednesday chairing a round table on the Food for Gaza scheme being spearheaded by Italy in collaboration with the Rome-based United Nations agencies World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the Red Cross and Red Crescent. 

The round table aims to give “further momentum to Italy’s commitment to supporting peace in the Middle East and reconstruction in Gaza,” the foreign ministry said in a statement ahead of the meeting.  

As part of its humanitarian efforts in the region, the government has decided to award more scholarships to young Palestinians, and universities and research minister Anna Maria Bernini is also due to attend Wednesday’s roundtable.  

”Following the ceasefire agreement (between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas), Italy will be in a position to further strengthen its humanitarian commitment,” the foreign ministry statement cited Tajani as saying ahead of the roundtable. 

“This is thanks to the activities linked to the Food for Gaza initiative, in favour of the civilian population. In cooperation with Minister Bernini, we have decided to increase scholarships for young Palestinians, who represent the future of the Holy Land,” the statement underlined. 

Italy forged and has been coordinating the Food for Gaza scheme, which since its timely launch in March last year has sent some 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to the statement. 

A ship with further 15 tonnes of emergency goods is also scheduled to head to Gaza in the coming days, as well as 15 trucks for the WFP to distribute aid to the population, the statement said. 

Representatives from FAO, WFP, the IFRC, the Italian Red Cross and civil defence department, as well as associations from the food, university, research and health sectors are set to take part in the roundtable, the statement noted. 

Further efforts to ease Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian emergency and prospects for the war-devastated coastal enclave’s reconstruction are the focus of the roundtable, said the statement. 

Following the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which entered into force on Sunday, the situation in the Gaza Strip remains “problematic”, the foreign ministry stated. 

According to the UN, two million people are in dire need of food and other basic necessities. 

In a further sign of Italy’s unwavering determination to help efforts to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Tajani visited Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories on Monday, the foreign ministry said in an earlier statement.  

Strengthening humanitarian aid including Food for Gaza, large-scale humanitarian access to the entire Strip, its post-war reconstruction and economic cooperation were on the agenda during Tajani’s visit to the region. 

During his visit, Tajani held talks with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, foreign minister Gideon Saar, Palestinian Authority premier Mohammed Mustafa, and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. 

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