A delegation of Italian MPs from different parties will visit Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Monday, to express solidarity with local residents in the wake of recent increase of rocket attacks aimed at civilians and launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Kfar Aza is located in the Gaza belt region, an area with Israeli communities, located very close to the Gaza border and is under heavy rocket fire.

The recent escalation in southern Israel has forced the local population to abandon its normal way of life. Schools were shut down on Sunday and residents were instructed to remain close to shelters and protected spaces.

“It’s a very painful and unjust situation that puts the civil population in a status of stress and desperation. We want to bring the solidarity of the Italian Parliament to the Israeli people,” the Italian MPs declared.

Twenty Italian senators and deputies have been in Israel since Thursday, for the annual delegation of the Italy-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Association. During their visit to Kfar Aza, they will meet MK Shai Hermesh (Kadima), a resident of the kibbutz, as well as local authorities.

One of the participants in the delegation is Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein, vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Nirenstein chairs the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP), comprising legislators from six continents.

More than 100 rockets were fired at Israel by Gaza terrorists on Saturday and Sunday. A direct strike on a home in Sderot was reported after 7:30 p.m. Sunday evening.  Thankfully, no one was physically injured despite the direct hit.

Many of the rockets fired Sunday were timed for the end of the school day, obviously in order to try and kill or maim children.