A ship from the UAE carrying aid for Gaza arrived at Al-Arish this month, delivering aid via a port in Sinai. This is the largest cargo ship aid shipment since the UAE began providing aid to people in Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
According to reports, the ship that arrived in El Arish brought 5,340 tons of food and shelter materials destined for Gaza.
Egyptian Maj.-Gen. Khaled Megawer, Governor of North Sinai greeted Rashid Al-Mansouri, Secretary-General of the Emirates Red Crescent when the ship arrived, according to the Daily News Egypt. Sultan Al-Kaabi, spokesperson for relief affairs in Operation Gallant Knight 3 and Ahmed Mubarak, Medical Director of the floating UAE hospital in Al-Arish were also present, the report said.
The UAE has also been helping Palestinian civilians injured in Gaza. This includes a field hospital in Gaza as well as the floating hospital near El Arish. According to the reports 42 Palestinians are currently receiving treatment at the floating hospital. The UAE has also offered to receive injured children from Gaza directly via flights from Israel.
The large ship that arrived off the coast of Egypt left the UAE’s port of Fujairah on July 8. According to Al-Ain media, there have been eight aid ships from the UAE and four of them have come under the operation of Gallant Knight 3, designed to aid Gazans.
UAE continued humanitarian and relief commitment
The ship includes 4,134 tons of food divided into 145,000 packages. This includes 145 tons of rice. There are also 4,000 tents, and 42,000 health packets for women and children.
This will all be transported in 313 trucks. “Since the beginning of the difficult circumstances experienced by our Palestinian brothers, the UAE has continued to perform its humanitarian and relief role in helping our brothers with all available means, in implementation of the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE, with the aim of alleviating the severity of the humanitarian conditions suffered by our brothers in the Gaza Strip,” Rashid Al-Mansouri said, according to Al-Ain.
“The UAE is today at the top of the list of the most important donor countries for humanitarian and development aid worldwide, as it was and still is at the forefront of countries that rush to support and assist the affected segments and categories,” he added.
The same report noted that the UAE is also helping to provide baked goods for Gaza and is helping to establish desalination plants to “produce 1.2 million gallons of water per day that is pumped into the Gaza Strip and benefits more than 600,000 people,” Al-Ain noted.
A second UAE operation dubbed “Birds of Goodness” has also taken place over the last several months, the report said. This is part of the airdrops of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. The total amount of aid dropped so far has reached 3,382 tons of relief and humanitarian aid. The UAE’s commitment to Gaza is important. It is one of the key countries seeking to play a constructive role in the wake of the disaster that Hamas brought on Gaza.