UAE - As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, an airbridge from the UAE is helping transport vital medical supplies, food kits, and other relief items to war-hit Palestinians on the Gaza strip. A flight containing the fifth shipment from Dubai's International Humanitarian City (IHC) landed in Al Arish, Egypt, on Monday, carrying over 9 tonnes of humanitarian aid from the World Health Organisation stockpile.

Khaleej Times was onboard the seven-hour flight that transported the life-saving supplies to Al Arish, which is about 50km from the Rafah crossing at the Gaza border.

The supplies will be stored at a warehouse. With aid now starting to trickle in to Gaza, these essentials will soon make its way to Palestinians.

So far, the airbridge from Dubai has helped transport 46.15 tonnes of aid in five C130 military cargo flights. These supplies will benefit over 65,000 Palestinians.

Across the border, over 2.3 million Gazans are fast running out of food, water and medicines.

At Al Arish Military Base, hundreds of Egyptian Red Crescent volunteers work tirelessly to unload essentials that are flying in from around the world. After segregating the materials, they load them on to trucks bound for Gaza.

Volunteers Khaleej Times spoke to expressed their gratitude to the UAE, which was among the first to respond to the crisis. They said all materials would be transported to Gaza, provided the border remains open.

Khaled Zayed, the head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in North Sinai, said: “We want to assure the people of Gaza that we are very well-prepared to meet their needs.

“Only about 20 trucks are allowed to cross the border daily," he said.

The United Nations estimates that about 100 trucks per day are required to meet the needs of the Gazans whose humanitarian situation has been described as "catastrophic".

Copyright © 2022 Khaleej Times. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).