UK military drops seven tonnes of aid into Gaza Strip

British Defence Secretary says supplies will help to alleviate humanitarian crisis

UK aid on board a Royal Air Force plane. Britian has dropped another seven tonnes of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. All photos: PA

Supplies including water, rice and baby formula have been dropped into the besieged enclave.

UK military personnel load the aid on to an A400M Atlas aircraft.

A palette of aid is lifted into the aircraft, with the UK military continuing humanitarian operations to help Gazans.

The UK is pursuing 'every avenue to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis', Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says.

Handout photo issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) dated 01/04/2024 of humanitarian aid being air dropped over Gaza from an RAF A400M Atlas aircraft. Picture date: Monday April 1, 2024. PA Photo. UK Armed Forces load Container Delivery Systems (CDS) with Humanitarian Aid as part of the action to address the plight of the Palestinian people. Army personnel from 47 Air Despatch Squadron loaded aid from Jordan and the UK onto an RAF A400M Atlas from RAF Brize Norton.7000 Kgs of aid was dropped into Northern Gaza after an assessed reduction in threat to the military mission and risk to civilian life. Photo credit should read: CPL Tim Laurence RAF/MoD/Crown Copyright/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.

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The UK military dropped a further seven tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Monday as part of continuing efforts to alleviate food shortages in the war-torn enclave.

Britain has now dropped 35 tonnes of humanitarian supplies into the Palestinian territory in the past week.

The UK Ministry of Defence issued images of the aid being dropped into Gaza from an RAF A400M Atlas aircraft.

“A further seven tonnes of essential aid has been dropped into Gaza by [the RAF] as part of our sustained effort to provide relief to civilians," Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on X.

He added that 35 tonnes of aid had been delivered on 40 pallets in seven days "as we pursue every avenue to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis".

The UK began dropping aid into Gaza on March 25 amid continuing delays at land crossings. The aid dropped into the besieged enclave has consisted of water, rice, cooking oil, flour, tinned goods and baby formula.

The UK and its allies continue to work on a new sea route to get aid into Gaza, amid international warnings that the enclave is on the verge of famine.

While the sea route and air drops aim to provide essential supplies to Gazans, UK Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell has called for more aid to be allowed to enter over land crossings from Israel.