THE Italian and Spanish governments said today they were sending additional naval support to ensure the safety of the Gaza humanitarian flotilla.

This came after reports by flotilla activists on Wednesday night that they had been subjected to a wave of attacks by Israeli drones and other aircraft which targeted vessels in what flotilla organisers described as “an alarmingly dangerous escalation.”

Deliberate radio jamming had also caused “widespread obstruction in communications” among the ships, they said.

Having said on Wednesday that it was sending a naval ship to support the flotilla, today Italy announced it was sending a second ship.

“We have sent one ship and another is on its way, ready for any eventuality,” Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a speech to the Italian lower house of parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters in New York on Wednesday that his country’s navy will join Italy in sending warships.

Mr Sanchez said: “The government of Spain demands that international law be complied with and that the right of its citizens to navigate the Mediterranean under safe conditions be respected.

“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it is necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations general assembly in New York that Palestinians in Gaza “have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement” by Israel.

The Palestinian president, forced to speak over video after the United States revoked his visa, told the UN that Palestinians in Gaza “have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation and displacement” by Israel.

Despite laying out in gruesome detail the death and destruction in Gaza, Mr Abbas said Palestinian authorities “reject” the action Hamas carried out on October 7 and said it does not represent their people.

He also said that the Palestinian Authority is “ready to bear full responsibility for governance and security” and that “Hamas will have no role to play in governance,” and would have to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian authorities.

In Gaza today at least 17 people were killed in Israeli attacks, according to local health officials.

Some 12 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the central town of Zawaida. A girl was killed in an air strike that hit a tent in Deir al-Balah. Four more were killed in an attack on a block of flats in Khan Younis.