UAE Gaza aid operation reaches three years, The National reports

The United Arab Emirates marked three years of its Operation Gallant Knight 3 relief effort for Palestinians in Gaza on November 5, with aid deliveries exceeding 136,000 tonnes and valued at $4.16 billion, The National reported.

The newspaper described assistance spanning food, health care, shelter and psychosocial support. Its anniversary account listed 792 aircraft, 26 ships and 14,711 lorries mobilised for the operation, alongside 81 missions carried out through the Birds of Goodness airdrop initiative.

Shipments pass through a UAE humanitarian logistics centre in Al Arish, Egypt, where aid is received and sorted before being sent onward to Gaza, according to The National.

The operation began following a November 5, 2023 directive from UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirates News Agency, WAM, reported at the time. He instructed the defence ministry’s Joint Operations Command to organise assistance for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

That directive brought together the command, the Emirates Red Crescent, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and the Zayed Charitable & Humanitarian Foundation. It also called for opportunities for registered doctors and humanitarian volunteers to participate.

Medical assistance has included treatment for more than 294,000 cases, The National reported. It also described health centres, field hospitals and medical convoys deployed in cooperation with the World Health Organisation.

An earlier announcement by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed one component of that medical effort: an Emirati-run field hospital in Gaza with room for more than 150 beds. The ministry said an Emirati medical team supervised treatment there.

The hospital’s facilities included surgical theatres, intensive care for adults and children, specialist outpatient services, CT imaging, laboratory testing and a pharmacy, according to the ministry.

On food provision, The National reported that 40 community kitchens produced roughly eight million meals a year. The operation also supported about 27 bakeries with a combined annual capacity of as many as 1.5 million bread bundles, the newspaper said.

A separate winter clothing campaign aimed to assist one million people in Gaza with clothing, blankets and heating supplies, according to the anniversary report.