People carry Palestinian flags as they bid farewell to the Italian fleet of the Global Sumud Flotilla departing from the port of Siracusa, Italy, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo)Italy’s Adriatic port of Ravenna on Thursday blocked two trucks reportedly carrying weapons bound for Israel, as dockworkers and other labor groups stepped up protests against Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza.
The center-left mayor of Ravenna, Alessandro Barattoni, told reporters the port authority had accepted the request from him and the regional government to deny access to the lorries carrying explosives en route to the Israeli port of Haifa.
“The Italian state says it has blocked the sale of arms to Israel but it is unacceptable that, thanks to bureaucratic loopholes, they can pass through Italy from other countries,” Barattoni said in a statement.
He did not provide details on where the containers had come from.
Similar action to block arms shipments to Israel has been taken by dockworkers in other European countries such as France, Sweden and Greece.
Ravenna’s decision reflects growing mobilization in Italy against Israel’s attacks and in support of an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to the Palestinians.
A spokesperson from the Israeli embassy in Rome said they did not have sufficiently detailed information about the case and so declined to comment.
On Friday, Italy’s largest trade union body, the CGIL, will hold a national half-day strike and marches in Rome and other cities, while on Sept. 22, two other unions will halt work and try to block activity in the large ports of Genoa and Livorno.
“We won’t let a single pin through the port,” said Riccardo Rudino from the Calp dockers’ union in Genoa.
Israel’s current military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health officials, and left much of the enclave in ruins.
It launched the attacks after Palestinian resistance group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The CGIL said its protests were aimed at generating pressure on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government “to suspend all commercial and military cooperation agreements with Israel, lift the humanitarian embargo, and recognise the State of Palestine.”
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday that Italy would support EU sanctions against violent Israeli settlers and Israeli ministers who have made “unacceptable” comments on Gaza and the West Bank, and was open to considering trade sanctions.
By Reuters
