UAE convoys to Gaza reach the 100 mark, with more than 20,000 tonnes of aid delivered


Ali Al Shouk
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A total of 1,000 lorries loaded with humanitarian aid sent by the UAE has entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing since November to help those affected by the war in the enclave.

The lorries were part of 100 aid convoys carrying more than 20,000 tonnes of urgent supplies since the UAE launched its aid mission, Gallant Knight 3, on November 24.

“The medical aid includes a number of essential medical supplies, medicine, food parcels, Emirati dates, shelter tents, food supplies, clothes, water, baby formula, parcels for children and women, blankets, relief bags, ambulances, and water tanks and sewage systems,” state news agency Wam reported.

After the invasion of the Rafah region in Gaza, four aid convoys crossed the borders carrying 320 tonnes of supplies including shelter tents and food parcels for the displaced families and those affected by the difficult conditions and lack of necessities of life.

“The health sector was also supported with 16 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies," Wam reported.

The Emirates has also set up 12 warehouses at a logistics base in the Egyptian city of Al Arish, where it is stockpiling tonnes of essential aid, including nappies, blankets, canned food, flour, rice and medicine.

The depots are packed with vital goods as a direct result of the goodwill and generosity of the UAE public since the outbreak of the war.

Thousands of volunteers gathered across the UAE in October to pack aid boxes for Palestinian people under the Compassion for Gaza campaign.

Under operation Gallant Knight 3, the UAE also established a number of projects to help those in need, including a field hospital in the southern Gaza Strip and the floating hospital.

Figures released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June showed the Emirates had provided 33,100 tonnes of urgent supplies to Gaza since November.

The UAE has also set up five automatic bakeries and six desalination plants that produce 1.2 million gallons of clean water a day for 600,000 people in the Gaza Strip daily.

At least 3,380 tonnes of relief supplies were also sent to isolated parts of Gaza by aid drops.

The UAE's aid is part of international attempts to relieve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza after more than nine months of war.

Changing visa rules

For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.

Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.

It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.

The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.

The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

AGL AWARDS

Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

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Individual E. Pederson (-14), S. Kyriacou (-12), A van Dam (-12), L. Galmes (-12), C. Hull (-9), E. Givens (-8),

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Updated: July 20, 2024, 12:53 PM