Turkish Red Crescent set to send 9th aid ship to Gaza

The ninth humanitarian aid ship organized by the Turkish Red Crescent will depart for Gaza on April 16.

The vessel, which carried 3,774 tons of aid, is destined for an al-Arish port in Egypt. Turkish charity staff loaded the aid, including food, flour, sleeping bags and infant hygiene kits, onto the vessel, which will set sail from Mersin port in southern Türkiye, Daily Sabah reports.

The ship is expected to arrive in Egypt after a journey that will roughly take some 40 hours. The aid will be transferred from the Egyptian port to Rafah, Gaza’s main border crossing with Egypt. There, it will be delivered to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Turkish Red Crescent, in cooperation with the country’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), delivered nearly 40,000 tons of aid to Gaza through 13 airplanes and eight ships since the new round of the conflict began between the Hamas resistance group and Israel.

The Turkish Red Crescent deployed its largest aid shipment of the year to besieged Gaza early in March in time for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, delivering over 2,700 tons of aid, including food parcels containing ready-to-eat meals, water, food packages, flour, clothing, hygiene kits, shelter materials such as tents, sleeping bags and blankets, medical equipment and baby supplies. The aid agency is coordinating with the Egyptian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Red Crescent to ensure that the aid trucks reach the needy recipients quickly. In addition to distributing food packages within Gaza, the Turkish Red Crescent continues providing hot meals to 5,000 people daily by running a soup kitchen in Rafah, southern Gaza. During Ramadan, its staff on the ground handed out meals at sahur and iftar, the sunrise and sunset meals for Ramadan eaten before and after the daily fast.

Türkiye, which has denounced Israel for its offensive in densely populated Gaza and called for an immediate cease-fire, has sent tens of thousands of humanitarian aid items there since the start of the conflict last year.

Türkiye has been a virulent critic of Israel since the start of the conflict and a staunch defender of the Palestinian cause.

Israeli’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave often hinders aid efforts. Türkiye collaborates with Egypt, which hosts the only feasible land crossing with Gaza to deliver aid.