OPERATION GALLANT KNIGHT 3: President H.H. Sheikh Mohamed directed Joint Operations Command to collaborate with UAE humanitarian institutions for providing support to Palestinians affected by the conflict…reports Asian Lite News
UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the Joint Operations Command of the Ministry of Defence to initiate ‘Gallant Knight 3’, a humanitarian operation to support Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Mohamed instructed the Joint Operations Command to work in close collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent, the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, the Zayed Charitable Humanitarian Foundation, and other UAE institutions to provide humanitarian support to Palestinian people impacted by the current conflict.
Moreover, the President directed that volunteering opportunities be made available for doctors registered with the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, and for volunteers registered with the Emirates Red Crescent and other humanitarian and charitable entities in the UAE.
Logistic difficulties
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that logistic difficulties imposed by Israel and its repeated bombing of the Rafah border crossing delayed the delivery of aid to the besieged Gaza Strip and placed additional burdens on the African nation.
Shoukry made the remarks on Sunday during his talks with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain in Cairo, where they discussed “the deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip and the increasing humanitarian needs of the people of the Strip”, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry as saying.
The Egyptian top diplomat stressed the necessity to urgently provide more aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, highlighting Cairo’s intensified efforts in this regard.
The WFP chief lauded Egypt for its role to ensure that the Palestinians in Gaza have continuous access to humanitarian aid.
Egypt had previously complained of the slow inspection procedures of the aid trucks that are sent from Egypt to Gaza through the Rafah crossing at the Israeli crossing of Nitzana.
Earlier on Sunday, Egypt sent 75 trucks loaded with food, water, and medical supplies through the Rafah crossing to Gaza, raising the total number of aid trucks sent to the enclave since October 21 to nearly 500, a security source told Xinhua news agency.
According to the UN Office for Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at least 451 trucks have entered Gaza via Rafah — the only crossing point between the Hamas-controlled enclave and Egypt.
Of these, at least 158 trucks carried food, 102 carried health supplies, 44 carried water or hygiene products, 32 carried non-food items, and eight carried nutrition supplies, with the remaining trucks carrying mixed cargo, the OCHA said in its latest situation update report.
The Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, which prior to the hostilities was the main entry point for goods, remains closed, as does the Israeli pedestrian crossing of Erez. .
For a second consecutuve day on Sunday, no exits of dual nationals or patients from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah crossing reportedly due to the failure of Hamas, Israel and Egypt to reach an agreement regarding the safe evacuation.
The halt in the exit of dual nationals and patients followed an attack on an ambulance convoy on its way from Gaza city to Rafah on November 3.
More than 1,100 people reportedly crossed from Gaza to Egypt on November 2 and 3.
Israeli Minister’s Nuke Remarks Draw Arab Flak
The UAE has strongly condemned and expressed its strong denunciation of the disgraceful and unacceptable statements of Israeli Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu on dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip. These statements constitute a violation of international law, as well as an incitement to commit grave violations of International Humanitarian Law such as war crimes, and raise grave concerns of an intent to commit genocide.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) affirmed the UAE’s categorical rejection of the threat of using nuclear weapons. The UAE stresses that the immediate priority is to preserve the lives of civilians and provide them with necessary humanitarian assistance.
The Ministry reaffirmed the need for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, stressing the importance of protecting civilians according to international law, including international treaties, and the need to ensure that they are not targeted during conflict.
The UAE called on the international community to intensify efforts to avoid further fuelling the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to advance all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, while preventing the region from being drawn into new levels of violence, tension and instability.
Meanwhile, condemning the statement, Saudi Arabia said Israeli minister’s comments showed the penetration of “extremism and brutality” among members of the Israeli government.
“Moreover, not dismissing the minister and only freezing his membership constitutes the utmost disregard for all human standards and values,” it added.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the Israeli minister’s statement as a “serious incitement to a war crime and a disregard for humanitarian and moral values and international laws.”
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs condemned Eliyahu’s “racist, inflammatory, and provocative” statements.
It described the comment as a “call for genocide and a hate crime that cannot be tolerated.”
The ministry denounced it as a “condemnable incitement to murder and commit war crimes, in addition to the crimes committed against the people of the Gaza Strip.”
ALSO READ-S Africa calls for UN force to protect Gaza civilians