Largest UAE aid ship arrives to deliver crucial supplies to Gaza

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

A UAE aid ship carrying 5,800 tonnes of vital supplies to Gaza arrived on Thursday at Egypt’s Al Arish Port.

Contributed by Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation, organisers said it is the largest humanitarian relief shipment to be sent under the UAE’s Operation Gallant Knight 3.

The vessel was received by a delegation including Maitha Al Shamsi, Minister of State, Rashid Mubarak Al Mansouri, Secretary General of the Emirates Red Crescent, and Maj Gen Dr Khaled Megawer, Governor of North Sinai, state news agency Wam reported. As part of the visit, Dr Al Shamsi and the delegation also toured the UAE Floating Hospital in Al Arish.

The aid ship left Dubai’s Al Hamriyah Port on January 20, a day after the current Israel-Hamas ceasefire came into effect, carrying food, shelter materials and medical essentials.

Launched in 2023 by President Sheikh Mohamed, Operation Gallant Knight 3 has been carried out in collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent and humanitarian and charitable institutions in the UAE.

More than 55,000 tonnes of aid has been delivered by more than 500 air trips, six transport ships and 2,500 lorries used to carry aid from Egypt into Gaza. Additionally, the separate Birds of Goodness operation has air-dropped more than 3,700 tonnes of humanitarian aid by parachute in inaccessible areas.

Mohammed Al Shareef, a spokesman for Gallant Knight 3, told The National last month that aid deliveries from the UAE to Gaza were crucial because the picture on the ground in Gaza was so difficult. “It is very important because the situation there is really bad,” he said. “After this long period of war … many people are living in a very bad situation.”

The war in Gaza began in October 2023 after an attack by Hamas killed 1,200 people. It has resulted in the loss of more than 47,000 Palestinian lives and wounded more than 111,000, with much of the enclave in ruins.