Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 25, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleItaly's navy will assist the Gaza aid flotilla with one ship, replacing the Fasan with the Alpino. Defence Minister Crosetto urged caution against breaching the Israeli blockade.
ROME (Reuters) -Italy's navy will assist the Gaza international aid flotilla with just one ship and not two as was previously understood, the defence ministry said on Thursday, adding that the vessel would not have any escort duties.
The ministry said a frigate that was dispatched on Wednesday hours after the convoy known as the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was targeted by drones on its way to Gaza would be replaced by another vessel.
Earlier on Thursday, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told parliament that the "Alpino" frigate would be deployed in the area where the "Fasan" frigate had already been sent.
The defence ministry later clarified that the Alpino would replace the Fasan.
Crosetto, a senior member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, urged the flotilla not to insist on breaching the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza.
"Exposing human lives to risks in waters where it would not be possible to intervene with rescue would make no sense and would entail unnecessary dangers," Crosetto said.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Alvise Armellini and Gavin Jones)
Italy's navy will assist the Gaza international aid flotilla with just one ship.
The frigate being deployed is named 'Alpino', which will replace the 'Fasan'.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto urged the flotilla not to insist on breaching the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza.
Crosetto mentioned that exposing human lives to risks in those waters would make no sense and entail unnecessary dangers.
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