The arrival of an Italian delegation carrying skateboards to the Gaza Strip through the Beit Hanoun/ Erez crossing may have been a somewhat unusual scene. The delegation members decided to carry the skateboards that will be used in the large public park to be built as part of the “Green Hopes Gaza” project in the North Gaza governorate. The project is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

The Italian government had pledged to fund and execute a broad reconstruction and renovation program for houses destroyed during the 2014 Israeli war. The program included the building of a public park that is intended to include the only sports facility in the area. 

The Israeli and Palestinian sides have coordinated to allow for the entry of the delegation members and the skateboards into the besieged enclave.

The Italian delegation, which included engineers and technicians, arrived in Gaza immediately after the end of the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas that ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire on May 21. It spent about 25 days in the coastal enclave to finish the skateboard track. The transfer of equipment needed to build the track began in February 2020, but the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic delayed the process.