Italy, Spain deploy naval vessels to protect flotilla on course for Gaza

By Alvise Armellini and Anna Uras

ROME (Reuters) -Italy and Spain have deployed naval ships to assist an international aid flotilla that has come under drone attack while trying to deliver aid to Gaza, potentially ratcheting up tensions with Israel, which strongly opposes the initiative.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Many lawyers, parliamentarians and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, are on board.

The Italian defence ministry said a frigate that was dispatched on Wednesday, hours after the GSF was targeted on its way to Gaza, would be replaced by another vessel, adding that the aim was to protect people.

"It is not an act of war, it is not a provocation: it is an act of humanity, which is a duty of a state towards its citizens," Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told the upper house of parliament on the decision to send a ship.

FLOTILLA REJECTS CYPRUS AID COMPROMISE

The Italian foreign ministry said Belgium, France and other European nations had asked them to help provide assistance to their citizens on the flotilla if needed.

Italy had proposed a compromise whereby aid supplies could be dropped off in Cyprus and handed over to the Catholic Church's Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which would then distribute them in Gaza. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Israel backed the idea.

However, the Italian delegation rejected that suggestion on behalf of the flotilla on Thursday.

"Our mission stays true to its original goal of breaking (Israel's) illegal siege and delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged population of Gaza," the Italian group said in a statement.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it would not comment on reports that it was in discussions about the flotilla.

Italy sent a first frigate on Wednesday, hours after the flotilla said it was targeted by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels as they sailed in international waters 30 nautical miles (56 km) off the Greek island of Gavdos. 

No one was hurt, but some damage was caused to the vessels. Spain also said it was sending a warship on Thursday to assist the flotilla, joining Italy in an unprecedented move by European governments.

Previous activist attempts to break the naval blockade on Gaza were stopped by force by the Israeli military.

ISRAEL ASKS IF THIS IS AID OR PROVOCATION?

In 2010, 10 Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos who raided the Mavi Marmara ship leading an aid flotilla towards Gaza.

Italian Prime Minister Meloni, a traditional ally of Israel, stressed on Wednesday that no use of military force was expected by her country's navy, and criticised the flotilla initiative as "gratuitous, dangerous and irresponsible".

The flotilla has blamed Israel for the drone attack. 

Israel's foreign ministry did not respond directly to the accusation, but invited the flotilla to drop humanitarian aid at any port in a country near Israel, leaving it to Israeli authorities to take it to Gaza, or else face consequences.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, in a post on X, that the flotilla's rejection of the Italian proposal to drop the aid off in Cyprus showed "that their real purpose is provocation and serving Hamas".

"Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade," he wrote.

SAILING AT SLOW SPEED

The flotilla said early on Thursday that its vessels were sailing at slow speed in Greek territorial waters, had been subjected to "moderate drone activity" during the night, and were heading towards international waters "later today".

Some of the people on flotilla vessels have decided to disembark and are being replaced by other activists, Annalisa Corrado, an EU lawmaker for Italy's opposition Democratic Party who is on one of the boats, told Reuters.

"It is clear that tensions are rising, and with them, risks are also rising. Those who disembark have decided that these levels of risk are no longer compatible with what they are willing to bear."

Israel launched its nearly two-year-old war on Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023, attacks on the country by Hamas militants which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, the Israeli offensive has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and has spread famine, destroyed most buildings, and displaced the population, in many cases multiple times.    

(Additional reporting by Sara Rossi in Milan, May Angel in Jerusalem, Anna Uras in Bologna, and Joshua McElwee and Giulia Segreti in Rome; Wriitng by Alvise Armellini and Keith Weir; editing by Alexandra Hudson, Aidan Lewis and Alex Richardson)