On Saturday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said enough basic health supplies to serve 300,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been flown to an Egyptian airport near the Palestinian enclave.
WHO said that the supplies were ready to go in once humanitarian access could be established through the Rafah crossing from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip.
Carrying 78 cubic meters of health supplies from the UN health agency’s logistics hub in Dubai, a plane has landed at al-Arish Airport “to serve the needs of 300,000 people,” including pregnant women.
A statement said, “Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.”
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is the only passage in and out of the coastal enclave not controlled by Israel.
It has been closed since Tuesday after three Israeli strikes in less than 24 hours, which destroyed the terminal on the Palestinian side.
The supplies include sufficient medicines to treat 1,200 wounded patients and 1,500 patients suffering from heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems.
There are also sufficient trauma pouches to treat 235 wounded people, which allow injured people to be stabilized and receive immediate, life-saving care anywhere it is needed.
The WHO called for an immediate opening of a humanitarian crossing through Rafah to supply food, fuel, water, and other essential survival items.
It said, “The critically injured, the sick, and the vulnerable cannot wait.”
On Thursday, the first shipment of humanitarian aid arrived in al-Arish from Jordan, Egyptian state-affiliated media reported.
The United Arab Emirates state news agency WAM said on Friday that the UAE had sent a plane filled with medical aid to al-Arish.
Three Turkish planes, meanwhile, filled with humanitarian aid landed on Saturday at al-Arish.
