Saudi Arabia ramps up Gaza aid efforts

Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - AL-ARISH, Egypt: An 11th Saudi relief plane for Gaza, carrying 35 tons of aid including food, shelter and medical supplies, reached Al-Arish International Airport in Egypt on Saturday.
A day earlier, a ninth relief plane carried three of 20 ambulances that will be transported to Gaza through Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border.
The delivery of aid is being overseen by Saudi aid agency KSrelief.
Mubarak Al-Dosari, director of branches management at KSrelief and head of the center’s specialized team in Egypt, told Arab News: “The Saudi humanitarian bridge has been extended for more than 10 days now and has been expanding every day. Planes are arriving at this airport, as you can see, to deliver tons of food, shelter, and medical supplies to be transported to Palestinian families.”
He added: “We are witnessing the arrival of a batch of ambulances, representing an important humanitarian need for the Palestinian Red Crescent because of ambulances impacted due to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.”
Al-Dosari said that the ambulance delivery was a response to an appeal by the Palestinian Red Crescent, adding: “We will coordinate with the Egyptian side to deliver them quickly into the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has imposed a land, air and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007. The Rafah crossing acts as a critical connection between the besieged territory and the world.
Rafah — overseen by Egypt — is the only crossing into Gaza not controlled by Israel. Tel Aviv runs the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings.
Dr. Samer Al-Jutaili, the KSrelief spokesman, told Arab News that the situation in Gaza is “the worst scene in decades.”
He added: “To see dead children, women and the elderly everywhere in Gaza — the humanitarian truce means stopping the killing first, and this in itself is a massive achievement. After that, providing the opportunity for humanitarian aid will be smoother.”
Al-Jutaili said that humanitarian aid workers believe that the aid entering Gaza now is only a small portion of what is necessary to sustain Palestinians in the enclave.
“We have a feeling as humanitarian workers that what is entering Gaza now is worth nothing in relation to the actual humanitarian need. Only 10 percent of the needs are being met.”
About 100 trucks are entering Gaza each day. But Al-Jutaili, citing UN figures, said that the enclave requires about 1,000 aid trucks or more.
KSrelief is “fully prepared” for the situation and has increased the amount of aid being sent, he added.
“There is a real catastrophe happening on Earth. There is something we want to say to the international community … that the killing must stop first. We cannot work on providing humanitarian aid while people who need it are being killed.”
He said that Israel has a “systematic policy” to starve people in the Gaza Strip, in addition to targeting all infrastructure, including health care facilities, bakeries, water systems and electricity stations.
“Regrettably, it is now our belief that the intention encompasses not only the destruction of humanity but also the obliteration of vital life components at the same time. This fact indicates that there is an organized strategy to displace the inhabitants of Gaza,” he said.
Al-Jutaili expressed concern about the rapid decline in the standard of living in Gaza.
“Can you imagine that we are now talking about polluted water that nearly everyone in Gaza drinks? We are now talking about hepatitis cases that have begun to spread due to the polluted water. We expect there will be cases of cholera and malaria spreading due to rain and water swamps.”
Only about 15 percent of Gaza’s entire health care sector remains in operation, and every person “is a target” inside hospitals in the enclave, Al-Jutaili said.
He told Arab News: “Can you imagine how premature babies are pulled from incubators and subjected to a slow death because they are farther away from much-needed oxygen and nutritional supplies? Can you imagine that everything related to the intensive care rooms, from oxygen to fuel, is being purposefully targeted?”
Al-Dosari said that KSrelief is working with all active partners, such as the World Health Organization, the Red Crescent and UNRWA, to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“We held meetings with these organizations through our specialized team from the center regarding health, food and shelter concerns.”
He added that KSrelief is holding regular meetings with the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist Palestinian families.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, KSrelief’s chief, said that the air bridge to Egypt will be maintained to send humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing.
The center is also “studying the possibility of operating a sea bridge according to the need and speed of arrival,” he added.
“We are working on a sea bridge that will convey thousands of tons of aid. All of this will make us quantitatively prepared for any truce, such that it will increase the volume of aid entering Gaza.”