20 injured Gazan children to arrive in Italy for medical treatment

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) - Twenty injured children from Gaza are due to arrive in northern Italy to get medical treatment on Monday, the Italian Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

On board an Italian military ship, the children, accompanied by 40 family members, departed the Egyptian port of Al Arish for the Italian coastal town of La Spezia.

They will be admitted to hospitals in Genoa, Milan, Florence and other Italian cities, the ministry said.

This is the second group of Gazans transported to Italy under an international accord to assist children hit by the war.

Around 10 Palestinian children arrived in Italy last Monday to be hospitalized and cured in the country.

The Gaslini Pediatric Hospital in Genoa said it thanked the citizens of the Ligurian city who have been calling the hospital to offer clothes and toys for the children.

“The ports of Liguria are always ready to collaborate with the government. The crisis in the Middle East is closely affecting us, not only from an economic point of view, but also and foremost from a human point of view,” said Giovanni Toti, the president of the Liguria Region, according to the statement.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 that killed at least 27,238 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 66,452 following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.