Fourth UAE aid ship bound for Gaza arrives at Al Arish Port carrying 5,340 tonnes of supplies

AL ARISH, July 28 (Bernama-WAM) -- The fourth United Arab Emirates (UAE)  aid ship bound for Gaza arrived on Thursday at the port of Arish in the Egyptian governorate of North Sinai, in preparation for the entry of its cargo into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing, in coordination with the Egyptian authorities.

The ship set sail from the port of Fujairah in the UAE on July  8 as part of Operation "Chivalrous Knight 3," launched by the UAE to support the Palestinian people in Gaza amidst the difficult circumstances they have been experiencing, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

The ship is the fourth to arrive in Arish as part of the “Chivalrous Knight 3” initiative and the eighth UAE aid ship to the Gaza Strip. It is also the largest UAE aid ship sent to Gaza in terms of cargo and diversity of contents.

The ship is carrying 5,340 tonnes of relief and food supplies, including 4,134 tonnes of food parcels totaling 145,000 packages, 145 tonnes of rice and flour, 110 tonnes of water distributed over 200,000 packages, more than 4,000 tents, 42,000 health packages for women and children, 18 tons of sun, wind, and dust-resistant covers, and 1,600 relief bags.

The cargo of the ship was provided by the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, and the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, and was transported by 313 trucks that unloaded their cargo onto the ship.

Secretary-General of the ERC Rashid Mubarak Al Mansouri said, “Since the beginning of the difficult circumstances experienced by our Palestinian brothers, the UAE has continued to fulfill its humanitarian and relief role in helping them by all available means, which is in accordance with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to alleviate the severity of the humanitarian conditions suffered by our brothers in the Gaza Strip.”

Al Mansouri stressed that the arrival of the fourth ship to the Gaza Strip is an important step, as it is the largest in terms of cargo and the diversity of aid, covering various needs of the Palestinians.

As part of Operation “Chivalrous Knight 3”, the UAE has launched a number of initiatives, including the establishment of two field hospitals, one inside the Gaza Strip and the other a floating hospital off the coast of Al Arish city, in addition to the establishment of five automatic bakeries.

Flour has also been provided to eight existing bakeries in Gaza, and six desalination plants have been established that produce 1.2 million gallons per day, which are pumped into the Gaza Strip and benefit more than 600,000 people.

The Joint Operations Command had also launched Operation "Birds of Goodness" to airdrop humanitarian aid to isolated areas in the northern Gaza Strip that cannot be reached by land. The total amount of aid dropped so far is 3,382 tonnes of relief and humanitarian supplies.

-- BERNAMA-WAM