Turkey sends aid to Egypt for Gaza

Ankara — Turkey sent two cargo planes to Egypt on Monday carrying medical equipment and supplies for Gaza, said health minister Fahrettin Koca. He said  two more aircraft would be sent with more supplies.

Earlier in October, Turkey sent three aircraft carrying aid for Gaza. On Sunday, it also sent a medical team and supplies to Egypt, saying Ankara was ready to treat wounded Palestinians in Turkey, if needed, and to set up a field hospital at Egypt’s El Arish Airport and Rafah border crossing.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Koca said the cargo planes carried medicine, generators, medical supplies, incubators for babies, phototherapy machinery, diapers and baby food.

Among the medical supplies, he said, are emergency response equipment, operating tables, ventilators, ultrasound machines and orthopaedic supplies for those wounded in the fighting.

“The four planes of health support that are being planned for Gaza as aid will be sent from Egypt to Gaza via highways.”

Rafah is the main crossing in and out of Gaza that does not border Israel. Since Israel blockaded the enclave in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants on October 7, Rafah has become the focus of efforts to deliver aid.

Humanitarian aid deliveries through Rafah began on Saturday after wrangling over procedures for inspecting the aid and after bombardments on the Gaza side of the border had left relief materials stranded in Egypt.

So far, three aid convoys have entered Gaza from Rafah, but carrying a fraction of the amount UN officials say is needed to meet the essential needs of Gaza, which is home to 2.3-million people. 

Reuters