By Manal Abdel Fattah
The UK Foreign Secretary has announced that the UK will provide a further £30 million in humanitarian aid which will support trusted partners, including UN agencies on the ground, to deliver lifesaving aid to people in Gaza. It brings to £60 million the additional aid announced by the UK for Palestinian civilians since the crisis started in October.
Today’s additional funding comes as the fourth UK aircraft carrying humanitarian aid landed in Al Arish, Egypt, for onward transfer to Gaza. The flight carried 23 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including 4,500 blankets and 4,500 sleeping mats for distribution by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
British Ambassador to Egypt Gareth Bayley said: “Today’s announcement of £30 million additional humanitarian funding to Gaza as the fourth UK aid flight landed in Egypt yesterday, underscores our unwavering commitment to alleviating the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and serving those in need.
He added: We are proud to continue working with our Egyptian partners to increase aid access to Gaza. Egypt has played a crucial role in reaching the recent agreement to allow for a humanitarian pause and the release of hostages, facilitating aid influx, and helping the UK and other countries evacuate their citizens from Gaza, and for that we thank them.
He continued: Like Egypt, our priorities are to deliver humanitarian aid safely and sustainably, including fuel, water and medicine while safeguarding civilians and civilian facilities in Gaza. We continue to urge Israel for more open border crossings to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian aid flow.”
The ambassador said that During his visit, the Foreign Secretary continued to urge all parties to make progress on the agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, to allow the release of a number of hostages and a pause in the fighting and ensure the agreement is adhered to in full.
