Six new flights in the EU’s humanitarian airlift carrying essential goods are scheduled over the next few days to Egypt for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the European Commission announced on Friday 10 November, the day after the international humanitarian conference in Paris for the civilian population in Gaza (see EUROPE 13289/4).
Most of the 378 tonnes previously sent by the first six flights of the operation have already been able to enter Gaza, according to the Commission.
For this second phase of the operation, two flights will be operated from Brindisi (Italy). The first was due to take off on Friday and the second on Saturday, carrying 55 tonnes of supplies donated by the EU to the World Food Programme, including a mobile storage unit, cold chain supplies and other items to increase logistical capacity.
Three scheduled flights from Bucharest, chartered by Romania, are planned for next week. They will be carrying equipment for shelters (tents, mattresses).
A flight chartered by UN agencies and other humanitarian partners is due to take off later in November from Ostend (Belgium).
This will bring to 14 flights and over 550 tonnes the total amount of vital supplies that will have been delivered to Egypt, to be taken by the Egyptian Red Crescent through the Rafah crossing to the humanitarian organisations distributing aid in the Gaza Strip.
“To ensure their safety during their lifesaving efforts, there is no way around but for warring parties to most rapidly clearly define and respect meaningful humanitarian pauses”, commented the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)