Jordan's King Abdullah takes part in air drop to Gaza field hospital

Footage showed the monarch on a transport plane over the enclave

King Abdullah during a state visit to the UAE in November last year. UAE Presidential Court

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Jordan’s King Abdullah has participated in an air drop to a field hospital in Gaza, state media reported on Sunday.

The announcement underscores the importance the kingdom places on humanitarian deliveries to the Palestinians amid the war, with the King repeatedly having called for Israel to lift restrictions on the aid flows.

Official TV showed footage of the King wearing military fatigue and protective gear on a Jordanian air force transport plane as it parachuted crates of supplies to a field hospital in Gaza, run by the kingdom’s military.

The footage did not give a date for the operation but said the King took part the latest air drop conducted by the air force in Gaza.

According to state media, the latest air drop operation was on February 5 and 6, conducted jointly with the Dutch air force.

King Abdullah in Washington, where he is due to meet US President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss the war in Gaza.

The supplies were parachuted to Field Hospital 77 in the north of Gaza, using pallets equipped with a GPS-guided device that can steer the package to its landing site.

Jordan also operates Field Hospital 2 in the south, and has previously supplied them by airdrop.

Any aircraft operating in Gaza's air space needs Israeli permission.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. The kingdom's 10 million population consists of a large proportion of people of Palestinian origin.

They are mostly descendants of Palestinians who were driven from their homes when Israel was created in 1948, and when Israel occupied Palestinian territory after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Israel pulled out from Gaza in 2005 – two years before Hamas took control of the enclave from the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas.