UAE's lifesaving relief: Under summer heat, volunteers load largest aid ship to Gaza

Under a sweltering July sun at a UAE port, charity officials and volunteers loaded a ship with lifesaving aid and hope bound for Gaza. Despite the oppressive heat, the UAE’s Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 team pressed on. A Khaleej Times photojournalist was on board as volunteers loaded what one coordinator described to Khaleej Times as the largest shipment since the campaign began. Among the cargo was a field hospital, destined to bolster Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system.

On Monday, the ship will depart Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, set to reach Al Arif Port in Egypt in the coming two weeks, relief operations coordinator, Hmoud Al Efari, told Khaleej Times. “There, we have a rescue team, who will help transport the aid through land via trucks to reach the Gaza Strip,” he said. The loading of the ship began on July 16, and includes food parcels, tents, relief kits, clothing, mattresses, hygiene kits, and other essentials.

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The mission is supported by the Emirati Red Crescent, Khalifa Foundation, Zayed Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, Dar Al Ber Society, Ajman-based International Charity Organization, Al Ihsan Charity Association, Al Etihad Charity Foundation and Ras Al Khaimah-based Saqr Bin Mohd Al Qassimi Charity Foundation.

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New pipeline

On Wednesday, the UAE announced the launch of the largest desalinated water supply project to help support the besieged population. The pipeline will connect the UAE-established desalination plant from Egypt to a displacement area in southern Gaza, between Khan Younis and Rafah governorates. It is expected to provide 15 liters of desalinated water per person daily, benefiting around 600,000 residents in southern Gaza.

Watch the video below:

Blockade and famine

Back in April of this year, the World Food Programme and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that food stocks in the Strip were “exhausted, even as supplies of lifesaving assistance pile up at border crossings waiting to be brought in.”  The United Nations has said that Israel has allowed “only around 6,000 tonnes of wheat flour” in June, but that “10,000 tonnes are urgently needed in the face of rising malnutrition.”

Israeli restrictions on border crossings have made it harder for life-sustaining supplies to reach the besieged population. Furthermore, there have been increasing reports from Palestinian journalists looking for flour, canned food, vegetables, and other food only to find empty stocks.

Hind Aldah

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hind@khaleejtimes.com

Hind Aldah covers business, tech, crypto and all that jazz for a younger audience. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.