Italy’s Meloni criticises Gaza flotilla, planned general strike

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ROME (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised an aid flotilla intercepted off Gaza by the Israeli military, saying on Thursday the activists’ mission and a strike called in their support in Italy would do nothing to help Palestinians.

Israeli forces have boarded dozens of ships carrying hundreds of activists, including about 40 Italians, as they attempted to breach a maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Italian unions called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the flotilla, while protests sprang up in a number of cities after news spread late on Wednesday that the ships were being halted.

Speaking on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Copenhagen, Meloni sarcastically suggested the planned strike was simply an excuse for unionists to have a nice weekend break.

“I would have expected that at least on such an important issue they would not have called a general strike on a Friday, because a long weekend and revolution don’t go together,” she said.

“I continue to believe that all of this brings no benefit to the people of Palestine,” Meloni told reporters.

“On the other hand, it seems to me that it will bring many inconveniences to the Italian people,” she added, referring to Friday’s strike, as well as pro-Palestinian protests previously called for Saturday.

Italian unions have accused the government of not putting pressure on Israel to halt the war and to allow unfettered aid access into Gaza.

Addressing parliament on Thursday, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Rome had backed Israel’s right to self-defence following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 that triggered the Gaza war.

However, he reiterated that Israeli operations in Gaza had gone beyond self-defence and had violated humanitarian law. “Gaza is not Hamas. Palestinians are not Hamas,” he said.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Alvise Armellini; Editing by Alex Richardson)