Egypt, UAE airdrop humanitarian aid to Palestinians in war-battered Gaza

By Ibrahim al-Khazen

ISTANBUL (AA) – Egyptian and Emirati planes airdropped humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Egypt’s military on Thursday.

Military spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez said dozens of tons of humanitarian aid and relief supplies were dropped “to ease the severe humanitarian crisis” in northern Gaza.

He said the humanitarian assistance included food, medicine and other essential supplies.

Jordan said early Thursday that it had carried out two operations to airdrop humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, in cooperation with Oman and Bahrain.

Similar operations were carried out by Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar and France earlier this week.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and over 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar