Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an ideological ally of Donald Trump, has urged the Gaza aid flotilla to stop to avoid jeopardising the US president’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and several Italian lawmakers among its participants, aims to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory and deliver vital aid to its population, who the UN says are suffering from widespread starvation.
But Meloni — whose government has dispatched a frigate to provide the flotilla with protection — warned the “hope” represented by Trump’s plan, unveiled at the White House on Monday, “rests on a fragile balance which many people would be happy to destroy”.
“I fear that the flotilla’s attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade could serve as a pretext to do so,” the far-right leader said in a statement.
“For this reason too, I believe that the flotilla should stop now and accept one of the various proposals put forward for the safe transfer of aid,” Meloni added.
“Any other choice risks becoming a pretext for preventing peace, fuelling conflict and therefore affecting above all the people of Gaza.”
Israel, whose offensive in Gaza has led to widespread international condemnation, has repeatedly accused the flotilla of being a Hamas operation, without providing justification.
It has told the flotilla to deliver the aid to an Israeli port instead, promising it will be transferred to Gaza by the Israeli authorities.
The flotilla has refused to do so, pointing to what the United Nations says is Israel’s refusal to let aid into the besieged territory despite the Middle East’s first UN-declared famine.
Having set sail from Barcelona earlier this month, the flotilla could reach Israel’s naval blockade in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Trump’s plan, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages taken by Hamas within 72 hours, a disarmament of the Palestinian militants and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.
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© Agence France-Presse
