UAE field hospital heads for Gaza via Rafah crossing, Foreign Minister says

Emirati medical team will provide care to injured Palestinians as part of the Gallant Knight 3 operation

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The UAE's field hospital has begun its journey to reach the southern Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, has confirmed.

An Emirati medical team will supervise the field hospital and provide medical care to injured Palestinians, as part of Gallant Knight 3, the UAE's humanitarian operation.

"Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the start of the process of introducing the integrated Emirati field hospital into the southern Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing to provide the necessary medical support to the Palestinian brothers in the Strip," Sheikh Abdullah said on Friday.

"The Emirati field hospital is part of the UAE's efforts to alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers and support the health system in the Gaza Strip," he said.

The 150-bed hospital will be established in several phases and includes several departments focused on the care of adults and children.

The hospital will include "departments of general surgery, orthopaedics, children and women, anaesthesia, and intensive care for children and adults, in addition to clinics in internal medicine, dentistry, a psychiatric clinic, and family medicine."

Sheikh Abdullah added that CT scan services will be available, as well as a laboratory and pharmacy.

The announcement comes as Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages on Friday along with 12 Thai nationals it has been holding since the October 7 attack.

Israeli media reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had received the Israeli hostages and was transporting them to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

This is the first batch of hostages Hamas has released as part of a temporary truce that came into effect on Friday morning.

More than 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have faced heavy and continuous Israeli air strikes and ground assaults since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The group killed about 1,200 Israelis and took more than 200 hostage. Israel's retaliatory attacks on the enclave have killed more than 14,500.

The temporary truce, mediated by Qatar, will allow more aid to reach the millions of Palestinians trapped in the enclave.

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