ROME (Reuters) -Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised an aid flotilla intercepted off Gaza by the Israeli military, saying on Thursday the activists’ mission and a strike called in their support in Italy would do nothing to help Palestinians. Italian unions called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the flotilla, while protests sprang up in a number of cities after news spread late on Wednesday that the ships were being halted. Speaking on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Copenhagen, Meloni sarcastically suggested the planned strike was simply an excuse for unionists to have a nice weekend break. “I continue to believe that all of this brings no benefit to the people of Palestine,” Meloni told reporters. However, he reiterated that Israeli operations in Gaza had gone beyond self-defence and had violated humanitarian law.