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.
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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)
