By Manal Abdel Fattah
It arrived today, Tuesday, after the first British sea shipment of aid provided to the Gaza Strip arrived in Egypt, including approximately 90 tons of thermal blankets and other basic materials.
Ambassador Gareth Bailey, Britain’s ambassador to Cairo, said: “The arrival of humanitarian aid to Port Said port, today, Tuesday, represents a significant increase in the aid provided by the United Kingdom in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
The ambassador added, according to a statement issued by the British Embassy in Cairo: “We are examining all possible ways to deliver aid as quickly as possible to those in urgent need of it, and this is the first aid shipment to arrive by sea.”
The ambassador added: “We express our gratitude for the assistance provided by Egypt in facilitating the journey of this shipment to deliver it to Gaza, and our gratitude in particular for the tremendous role played by the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, which the British Foreign Secretary saw for himself during his recent visit to Al-Arish.”
The ambassador added: “It is necessary for sufficient amounts of humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza. This is a priority for both the United Kingdom and Egypt alike.”
The first British sea shipment of aid provided to the Gaza Strip arrived in Egypt on Tuesday, including approximately 90 tons of thermal blankets and other basic materials.
According to a statement issued by the British Embassy in Cairo, the ship “Lime Bay” supporting the British Royal Fleet transported a shipment of life-saving materials coming from Cyprus, which included thermal blankets, shelter supplies, and medical supplies provided by the United Kingdom and the Republic of Cyprus.
The shipment included more than 10,000 thermal blankets, about 5,000 packages of shelter supplies, and medical supplies that will be transported to Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The Egyptian Red Crescent Society will receive this aid from Port Said port and then transport it to Al-Arish, and then bring it through Rafah to Gaza for distribution by UNRWA.
This comes in the wake of the visit of the Foreign Minister to Al-Arish in Egypt, on December 21, to meet with representatives of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society who are coordinating relief efforts at the Rafah crossing, and the visit of the Minister of Defense to Cyprus and Israel earlier this month, last December 7, to urge the acceleration of… Bringing aid into Gaza.
Both the Secretary of State and the Minister of Defense have made clear that Israel must increase the flow of aid into Gaza and facilitate the delivery of relief on the ground, including through negotiated humanitarian truces.
The UK will continue to explore other ways to deliver aid, including the Cyprus initiative to establish a sea corridor between Cyprus and the occupied Palestinian territories, and supporting the work of the World Food Program by securing the humanitarian land corridor from Jordan via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The UK has so far announced that it will spend nearly £60 million of additional funding for humanitarian aid in Gaza this financial year, tripling the current total annual budget allocated to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The latest £30 million funding package, announced by the Foreign Secretary on his recent visit to the region, has been allocated to trusted partners providing aid on the ground, including UNRWA, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the OCHA Crowdfunding Fund and the Red Cross. British, to support the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies.
