A ship was sent by the UAE carrying 2,500 tonnes of aid for the people of Gaza.
The shipment, docked at Ashdod port in Israel ahead of being sent on to Gaza, was laden with food packages containing essential goods such as flour, dates, milk and tea, state news agency Wam reported on Wednesday.
"These supplies aim to support the population, alleviate their suffering and help them withstand the harsh conditions and famine threatening their lives," Wam said.
"This initiative comes in response to the critical needs and tragic circumstances faced by the people of Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of displaced and affected families endure worsening hardship, with severe shortages of food, water and medicine, and a collapse in basic living conditions."
The aid was delivered under the UAE's Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 project. Launched in 2023 by President Sheikh Mohamed, the operation has been carried out in collaboration with Emirates Red Crescent, and humanitarian and charitable institutions in the UAE.
More than 55,000 tonnes of aid have been delivered on more than 500 flights, six transport ships and 2,500 lorries to Gaza. In a separate Birds of Goodness operation, more than 3,700 tonnes of humanitarian aid has been dropped from the air by parachute into areas inaccessible over land.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
