President Sheikh Mohamed directs $100 million in urgent relief to Lebanon

Aid package comes after Israel launches strikes on central Beirut

President Sheikh Mohamed ordered the aid initiative on Monday. Hamad Al Kaabi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs

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President Sheikh Mohamed has directed the delivery of a $100 million relief package to the people of Lebanon. The move is part of the UAE's efforts to offer support and emphasises the country's commitment to assisting the Lebanese, state news agency Wam reported.

Israel has launched strikes on Beirut as hostilities with Hezbollah escalate. An Israeli attack hit an apartment block near the Cola Bridge in Lebanon's capital early on Monday, marking the first strike on the city centre since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began in October last year.

The strike followed Friday's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in addition to assaults on Houthi sites in Yemen on Sunday.

More than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 injured in the past two weeks since Israel intensified its attacks, Lebanon's Health Ministry has said. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Sunday said up to a million people have been displaced.

"We are now ready to work in co-ordination with the specialists in providing what is necessary," Rashid Al Mansouri, secretary general of the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, told The National. "We are always ready to provide because we have storage in case of an emergency. The food supplies are ready, we have it in our warehouses. We are just waiting for the instructions at the time of the launch.

"Under the leadership's guidance, we have developed the capacity to provide food supplies and essential necessities at short notice, ensuring that we are always prepared to meet the needs of those in distress."

The financial package is the latest in a series of initiatives from the UAE aimed at alleviating suffering in the region, since the Israel-Gaza war began last year.

In June, it was reported that the UAE had provided 33,100 tonnes of urgent supplies to Gaza since November, when the country launched its aid mission to help those affected by the war in the enclave. The figures, released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs show the aid was delivered by 320 flights, seven ships and 1,243 lorries up to June 13.

Two hospitals have also been established as part of the UAE's programme to help those in need in Gaza, including one with a centre to provide prosthetic limbs to wounded Palestinians.

A field hospital in the southern Gaza Strip has 200 beds and more than 100 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and lab technicians. It is used for general surgery and orthopaedics, while also offering anaesthetic services and intensive care for children and adults. It offers internal medicine, dentistry, family medicine and psychiatric treatment.

The UAE has also provided a 100-bed floating hospital in the port of Al Arish on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza. The repurposed vessel – which has 100 medical and administrative staff on board – will remain docked off the coast of Al Arish to support relief efforts for Gaza. It has operating theatres, an intensive care unit, laboratory, pharmacy and medical warehouses. The vast ship, which sailed from Khalifa Port, also has an evacuation plane and boat, as well as fully equipped ambulances.

Six desalination plants were provided by the UAE, capable of generating up to 1.6 million gallons of clean drinking water a day to 600,000 people.

The UAE also supplied five automated bakeries, which produce bread for up to 72,000 people in Gaza, and enough flour for eight existing bakeries, which is helping to feed 17,140 people each day.

Also on Monday, the GCC called for a ceasefire in Lebanon. GCC Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed Al Budaiwi urged all parties to avoid military escalation along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

He added that the parties should adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Taif Agreement, which call on Israel to respect Lebanon’s borders and not extend its authority across the area, adding that Lebanon must exercise control over the use of arms on its territory.

Israel and Lebanon cross-border strikes - in pictures

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  Damage in Beirut after an overnight Israeli strike. EPA

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  Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in the south of Lebanon's capital. AFP

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  Displaced Syrians and Lebanese enter Syria from Lebanon at the Jusiyah border crossing. AFP

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  The site of the Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut. AP

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  Iranians lay flowers before a portrait of Nasrallah. AFP

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  Smoke billows over Tyre, southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike. Reuters

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  A Qader 1 ballistic missile from Hezbollah's arsenal. AFP

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  Syrians fleeing the war in Lebanon arrive at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdeidet Yabous. AP

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  Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi during his funeral in Beirut. EPA

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  People react at the scene of an Israeli air strike in the town of Maisara, north of Beirut. AP

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  Civil defence workers carry an elderly man who fled from the south of Lebanon, as he arrives at a school turned into a displaced shelter in Beirut. AP

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  A traffic jam in Ghazieh as people fleeing from the south of Lebanon drive towards Sidon and Beirut. EPA

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  People in heavy traffic drive north from Lebanon's southern coastal city of Sidon, as they flee Israeli bombardment. Reuters

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  Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre. Reuters

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  Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following Israeli strikes, as seen from Tyre. Reuters

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  Medics move patients at Rambam Hospital's underground emergency centre, in Haifa, northern Israel. EPA

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  Israeli emergency teams work at the scene of a missile strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kiryat Bialik, northern Israel. EPA

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  Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of the group's senior commander Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli strike on September 20, in Beirut. EPA

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  Rescuers carry a body at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut. AP