On Monday the Italian Navy ship Vulcano, which set sail in recent days from the port of al Arish in Egypt, where it had been located since December, she has arrived in La Spezia with 14 Palestinian children in need of specialist medical care and their carers on board. In total there are 60 Palestinian people on board. The children will be sent to various hospitals in Genoa, Rome, Florence, Bologna and Milan to be treated. Some of the children are seriously injured, but they are all in stable and non-life-threatening conditions.
The Vulcano was sent to assist the Palestinian civilian population involved in the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas, the radical Palestinian organization that had carried out the October 7 attack on Israeli territory. It had not been able to dock directly in the Strip, but in the Egyptian port of al Arish, about 50 kilometers from the border with the Gaza Strip. Initially, rather delicate operations were carried out in the two operating rooms on board, aimed above all at saving injured limbs, at risk of amputation.
In addition to a crew of over 170 sailors, including approximately 30 Navy doctors, nurses and surgeons employed in the health facility, on board there are two volunteer nurses from the Red Cross, six military doctors and nurses from Qatar and other Italian specialists: three anesthetists , two surgeons, an orthopedist, nineteen nurses with different specializations, a radiology technician and two biologists. The Francesca Rava Foundation, a partner of the Ministry of Defense, then sent two paediatricians, a gynecologist and a midwife.
– Read also: The Vulcano ship never reached the Gaza Strip