'Food for Gaza' plan unveiled in Italy to coordinate int'l humanitarian aid

Rome, March 12: Three multilateral food and aid agencies, together with Italy, have unveiled a "Food for Gaza" initiative aimed at coordinating international humanitarian efforts.

The initiative is made to increase food and health aid in Gaza in the short term, and then to focus -- in the long term -- on the human and social reconstruction of Gaza, according to Antonio Tajani, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Monday.

Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation; Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program; and Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Xavier Castellanos were present at the event held at the headquarters of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This is a program whose objective is to coordinate the activities of these important institutions," Tajani said.

"Together we want to focus on projects and the creation of a humanitarian aid corridor."

Tajani added the corridor will start from the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus, noting that current efforts to bring aid to the citizens of Gaza via airlifts are "proving to be inadequate".