More humanitarian aid for Gaza arrive in Egypt

Cairo, Oct 24 (IANS) More airplanes carrying humanitarian aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip landed in Egypt's al-Arish Airport in North Sinai governorate.

Planes from Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrived at the airport on Monday which is less than 50 km from the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, Xinhua news agency quoted the Egyptian Red Crescent as saying on Monday.

Meanwhile, al-Arish Airport also received two World Health Organization planes carrying aid to Gaza, reported the state-run Ahram Gate news website.

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday that his country sent two cargo planes to Egypt carrying medical equipment and supplies for the Gaza Strip, while two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.

The aircraft also carried a medical team of 20 doctors, he added .

Earlier on Monday, the Egyptian Red Crescent announced that it delivered a new aid convoy to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that it has received the third convoy of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid containing food, water, medicines, and medical supplies.

Earlier in the day, North Sinai Governorate announced that at least 27 aid planes have landed in North Sinai's al-Arish airport since October 12, carrying aid from many countries including Jordan, UAE, Russia, Turkey, and Brazil as well as UN agencies.

For two weeks, the Gaza Strip has been under deadly Israeli siege and strikes in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack.

But the aid deliveries entering Gaza have not included fuel.

The UN Relief Works Agency, by far the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza, will exhaust its fuel reserves within the next two days, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) .

"No fuel means no functioning water desalination. No fuel also means that humanitarian partners will have to focus almost their entire aid delivery operation on transporting water. It also means no bakeries and no hospitals," it said.