Rome: Italy said on Friday it would begin air drops over Gaza, which UN-backed experts say is slipping into famine, the latest European country to do so.

"I have given the green light to a mission involving Army and Air Force assets for the transport and airdrop of basic necessities to civilians in Gaza, who have been severely affected by the ongoing conflict," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a statement.

A Palestinian youth carries a can of food in one hand and a box of baby formula in the other, as he returns from an area in which aid trucks entered Gaza through the Zikim crossing point, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on August 1, 2025. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)

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Italy's air force will work with Jordan's military to air drop special containers containing essential goods, he said.

The first drops could come on August 9, he said.

Spain on Friday said it had air-dropped 12 tonnes of food into Gaza, joining Britain and France, which have partnered with Middle Eastern nations to deliver sorely needed humanitarian supplies by air to the Palestinian enclave.

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