(Adnkronos) – Another Palestinian child has arrived in Italy from Gaza as part of the operation that saw fourteen young Gazan cancer patients airlifted with their families to Italy for treatment last Thursday, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The young patient’s health condition had prevented his transfer with the rest of the group last week,but doctors at Italy’s Umberto I Hospital in Cairo gave the go-ahead for the child to travel to Italy for treatment at the Meyer Hospital in Florence, said the statement.
A total of 89 patients from Gaza have now been transferred to Italy, underlining the government’s commitment to humanitarian assistance and support for peace in the Middle East region, the statement added.
The initiative is part of the broader ‘Food for Gaza’ programme, through which Italy has been at the forefront of humanitarian efforts since the early stages of Israel’s offensive in Gaza (which began on 8 October 2023), the statement noted.
At the last meeting of the Food for Gaza panel chaired at the foreign ministry on 22 January by Tajani, it was decided to broaden the scope of the initiative to involve Italian university polyclinics, starting with the health sector. Priority was also given to evacuating sick children and their families from the war-shattered Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment in Italy, the statement said.
“Italy is committed to broadening the focus of its initiatives to encompass the reconstruction of Gaza, starting from the health sector, and further possibilities for collaboration with several major medical centres in our country are being explored,” the statement concluded.
