UAE to send 400,000 winter jackets to Palestinians in Gaza

Shipment containing blankets, heaters and winter gloves will also be sent to the besieged enclave

The Emirates Red Crescent, the humanitarian arm of the UAE government, is overseeing Emirati aid delivery to Gaza. Wam

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The UAE is to send more than 400,000 winter jackets to Palestinians left without shelter as temperatures plunge and the Israel-Gaza war rages on.

A further shipment of blankets, heaters and winter gloves is also to be sent.

The Emirates Red Crescent, the humanitarian arm of the UAE, said it had completed final preparations to send aid convoys to the Gaza Strip as part of its Be their Warmth campaign.

The NGO said the winter jackets, which were made in Egypt, are to be delivered to Al Arish in Egypt, near the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, for logistical arrangements before entering the enclave.

The UAE has so far sent more than 1.6 million pieces of warm clothing and blankets to the Gaza Strip, as part of its Gallant Knight 3 humanitarian initiative.

And it has doubled the capacity of its desalination plants on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza. The expanded plants can supply 4.5 million litres of drinking water a day to Gazans.

The plant gathers water from the Mediterranean Sea, through a system of pipes, which is then filtered and sent underground across the border.

The UAE has so far supplied almost 10,000 tonnes of aid delivered by 121 lorries and 129 cargo planes.

It also opened a warehouse in Al Arish where it is stockpiling aid including nappies, blankets, canned foods and electric heaters.

More than 22,700 have been killed in Gaza since October 7. Thousands have been detained since the start of the water, which was triggered after a Hamas attack on southern Israel which killed about 1,100 people, mostly civilians. About 240 others were taken hostage.

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