Red Crescent Sends 3,000 Tons Of Humanitarian Aid To Gaza To Support Ramadan

Delivery of 3,000 tons of aid to Gaza by the Turkish Crescent. (Twitter/@Kizilay)

JAKARTA - Turkey's Red Crescent (Kizilay) delivered 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid consisting of food, medicine and equipment for Gaza through the Port of Al-Arish in Egypt on Thursday.

Turkey, which strongly criticizes Israel for its military offensive in Gaza and supports measures to try Israel on allegations of genocide at the World Court, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and warned of consequences if calm is not achievable in the Holy Month of Ramadan. started on Sunday.

"This assistance, which will be sent to Gaza with the support and cooperation of Egypt's Red Crescent, will keep the Palestinians' hopes ahead of Ramadan," said Turkey's Ambassador to Cairo, Salih Mutlu Sen, via social media platform X, quoted from Reuters on March 8.

Meanwhile, Kizilay Chief Fatma Meric Yilmaz told CNN Turk the ship would travel two trips to Egypt to deliver aid, most of which were collected by donations.

The aid will then be transported by about 200 trucks to the border town of Rafah in Gaza, where more than one million people are displaced, he added. The aid is in the form of flour, cleaning products, ready-to-eat food, ambulances and portable kitchens.

"The assistance we have collected is almost enough to fill the second ship as well," he said. "If the ship returns here, we will fill it again and the ship will depart again around 26 (March) before mid-Ramadan," he continued.

In Gaza, the worst humanitarian situation occurred in the northern part of the enclave, which is outside the reach of aid agencies or news cameras. All regions in Gaza have not received food supplies, and aid supplies throughout Gaza have been reduced to almost no longer exist over the past month.

Last week, the United States began providing assistance to Gaza by air, followed by the Netherlands, France and other countries. Turkey has not expressed its desire to participate in air support so far.

A Turkish defense ministry official told reporters on Thursday that Ankara's efforts to assist Gaza by air would continue through Egypt and Jordan as needed and requested.

Turkey has sent thousands of tons of aid to Egypt to be sent to Gaza. In contrast to its Western allies and several Gulf countries, Turkey, which are members of NATO, does not view the Palestinian Hamas group, which controls Gaza, as a terrorist organization.