Italy, UAE mull setting up field hospital in Gaza

ROME - Italy and the United Arab Emirates are considering setting up a field hospital in Gaza, an Italian statement said on Thursday, as Rome sent doctors to the Gulf state to help treat young Palestinians patients who were transferred there.

As part of a drive to help civilians wounded by the Israel-Hamas war, Italy has already shipped humanitarian materials to the region aboard two planes and a navy hospital ship is expected to dock in the Egyptian port of Al Arish on December 3.

"Paediatricians from other countries, starting with Qatar ... are expected to work on the ship," the Italian government statement said, adding all aid had been sent in agreement with the main regional partners and Israel.

"The deployment of a field hospital in Gaza together with the United Arab Emirates is also being studied," the statement added, without providing further details.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is travelling to the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, will take aboard her flight a group of paediatricians from two Italian children's hospitals to help treat young Palestinian patients in the Emirates.

"Prime Minister Meloni has been monitoring the assistance to the civilian population of Gaza since the beginning of the conflict," the statement said.