Turkish Red Crescent sends its biggest Gaza aid shipment yet

Source: Reuters

March 7, 2024 5:35 AM EST


ANKARA, March 7 (Reuters) - Turkey's Kizilay (Red Crescent) is sending its biggest aid shipment yet to Gaza via Egypt, with a ship carrying some 3,000 tons of food, medicine and equipment leaving for the Egyptian port of Al-Arish on Thursday.

Turkey, which has harshly criticised Israel for its military offensive in Gaza and backed measures to have it tried for genocide at the World Court, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and warned of consequences if calm cannot be achieved by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, starting on Sunday.

"This aid, which will be delivered to Gaza with the support and cooperation of the Egyptian Red Crescent, will keep the hopes of Palestinians alive on the eve of Ramadan," Turkey's ambassador to Cairo, Salih Mutlu Sen, said on social media platform X. Kizilay head Fatma Meric Yilmaz told broadcaster CNN Turk that the ship would make two trips to Egypt to deliver the aid, largely collected through donations.

It will then be transported in around 200 trucks to the border town of Rafah in Gaza, where more than one million people have taken refuge, she added. The aid includes flour, hygiene products, ready-to-eat meals, ambulances, and portable kitchens. "We have almost enough aid collected to fill the second ship too," she said. "Once the ship returns here, we will fill it up again and the ship will then go again around the 26th (of March) near the middle of Ramadan."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkish-red-crescent-sends-its-biggest-gaza-aid-shipment-yet-2024-03-07/