Largest UAE aid ship set for Gaza as fragile truce holds

It will carry 5,800 tonnes of vital assistance to those most in need

The ship was loaded at Al Hamriya Port with 5,800 tonnes of relief such as food supplies, medicines and several ambulances. Pawan Singh / The National

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A UAE aid ship for Gaza left on Monday as humanitarian efforts intensify a day after the ceasefire came into effect.

Contributed by Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation, organisers said it is the largest aid shipment to be sent under the UAE’s Operation Gallant Knight 3. The ship was loaded at Al Hamriya Port with 5,800 tonnes of vital aid such as food supplies, medicines and several ambulances.

The cargo vessel, the sixth to depart under the campaign, is expected to reach Egypt's Al Arish in the first week of February. When it docks, the humanitarian supplies will be loaded on to lorries and driven across the border to Gaza. Aid efforts are accelerating after the truce between Hamas and Israel came into effect on Sunday with Gaza in a state of widespread devastation.

Rashid Al Mansouri, secretary general of Emirates Red Crescent, told The National that humanitarian work would continue with more aid expected to be delivered into Gaza now the ceasefire was in effect. “We already reached inside Gaza when the [border was closed],” said Mr Al Mansouri. “Now that they are open, we expect to [send] more [aid].”

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Launched in 2023 by President Sheikh Mohamed, Operation Gallant Knight 3 has been carried out in collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent and humanitarian and charitable institutions in the UAE.

More than 55,000 tonnes of aid has been delivered through air, sea and land with more than 500 air trips, six transport ships and 2,500 lorries used to carry aid from Egypt into Gaza. Additionally, the Birds of Goodness operation has delivered more than 3,700 tonnes of humanitarian aid by parachute in inaccessible areas.

Gaza needs more aid

The UN Satellite Centre said 69 per cent of all structures had been destroyed or damaged. The UN has also said about 91 per cent of people had faced high levels of “acute food insecurity”.

Hundreds of lorries crossed into Gaza from Egypt on Sunday. Under the provisions of the ceasefire, 600 lorries carrying relief supplies are permitted to enter Gaza every day. However, agencies based in Palestine said this figure wouldn’t be enough to deal with the situation. Abeer Etefa, the World Food Programme's Middle East senior spokeswoman, told The National that they needed to “flood Gaza with food supplies”.

“Hungry and desperate Gazans need 150 lorries of food a day, or 300,000 tonnes every month, to provide meaningful assistance,” she said.

Director general of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was ready to deliver aid to the strip but it needed “systematic access”.

It comes as the UAE’s relief effort has entered its largest phase targeting 9,500 displaced people living in shelters near Al Aqsa University in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. This phase aims to repair water infrastructure and sewerage networks along with boosting bakeries and soup providers.

Mohammed Al Shareef, a spokesperson for Operation Gallant Knight 3, said they expected quicker access into Gaza after the ceasefire. Pawan Singh / The National

Mohammed Al Shareef, a spokesperson for Gallant Knight 3, told The National that aid deliveries from the UAE to Gaza were crucial because the picture on the ground in Gaza was so difficult. “It is very important because the situation there is really bad,” he said. “After this long period of war … many people are living in a very bad situation.”

Mr Al Shareef said they expected quicker access and “more quantities” of aid to reach those who needed it now the truce was holding. “We expect to have more lorries going inside,” he said.

The war in Gaza began in October 2023 after an attack by Hamas killed 1,200 people. Israel's response has killed about 46,900 Palestinians. Most of Gaza's residents have been displaced by the fighting and many areas have been reduced to rubble.