Amman, Nov 6 (EFE).- Jordan on Monday air-dropped urgent medical aid to a field hospital in Gaza City, in what is believed to be a first aerial delivery of humanitarian assistance to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Smoke rises following Israeli air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, 05 November 2023. EFE-EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Until now, the Strip had only received supplies through the Rafah land crossing with Egypt.
“Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II wrote on X. “This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza. We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren.”
A military source from the General Command of the Jordanian Armed Forces told the state Petra news agency that the aid was dropped using parachutes.
According to the agency, the operation was undertaken as the hospital’s supplies were about to run out due to the “delay in the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” the only one not controlled by Israel and which connects the enclave with the Sinai Peninsula.
The Armed Forces also confirmed that the field hospital continues to operate despite a severe shortage of supplies and with the aim of alleviating the suffering of families in the Strip, where Israeli bombings have killed more than 9,700 people since Oct. 7.
The content of the aid drop is unknown, as is whether this operation was carried out unilaterally or in coordination with the Israeli authorities, who have blockaded the Strip and only allowed the entry of humanitarian aid through Rafah.
The obstacles to the entry of aid into Gaza have generated waves of condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations, which has warned that the assistance entering the enclave is only “a drop in the ocean” of needs of the population. EFE
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