Dock workers from the Italian base union of USB operating at the port of Livorno, in northern Tuscany, have planned to refuse to load a shipment of arms after discovering the load was headed to Israel.

The shipment included explosives and precision-guided munitions destined for the port city of Ashdod, in Israel. In a note the USB union has explained that dock workers took the decision to stop loading the shipment fearing the weapons would end up killing the innocent Palestinians already hit by deadly attacks over the past days, which caused hundreds of civilian victims, including women and children.

Dock workers had been tipped off by an NGO named The Weapon Watch over the weapons they were supposed to load onto the Asiatic Island, a vessel flying Singaporean flag docked at the port of Livorno.

The Weapon Watch is an independent observatory on arms transfers through Italian ports. According to representatives of the observatory the legal part of the arms business transiting through Italy is mirrored by a vast illegal trade in arms that fuels violence, atrocities, and civil wars across the globe.

The NGO The Weapon Watch has urged the Italian government to consider suspending some or all Italian military exports to Israel. Rome has recently halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates due to their involvement in the Yemen conflict.