Jordan sends medical aid into Gaza via airdrop coordinated with Israel, US
King Abdullah says urgent resupply shipment for field hospital meets ‘duty to aid our brothers and sisters’ wounded in Gaza
Jordan’s air force air-dropped vital medical supplies to a field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, King Abdullah II said early Monday.
“Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Jordan’s official Petra news agency said the airdrop was intended to replenish a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza, which was running low on supplies due to issues getting humanitarian aid into the Strip.
The move, which appeared to bypass the truckloads of closely inspected aid being shipped into the Strip via the Rafah Crossing, was coordinated with both Israel and the US, an American source told The Times of Israel, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
A senior Israeli official quoted by the Walla news site also said the operation had been coordinated with and approved by Israel.
The airdrop appeared to be the first aid delivered by Jordan.
“This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza,” Abdullah said, adding: “We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren.”
Pictures showed a single crate draped with a Jordanian flag being loaded onto a military plane by Jordanian soldiers.
Israel has insisted on inspecting all aid entering Gaza to ensure it does not contain weapons or defensive equipment that can be used by the Hamas terror group, which rules the Strip.
Jerusalem declared war and vowed to eliminate the group following a devastating assault on southern Israel a month ago in which some 1,400 people were killed and another 241 were abducted to Gaza. Most of those killed and kidnapped were civilians, including young children and the elderly.
But Jerusalem has also come under heavy international pressure to ramp up the amount of aid entering the enclave, where massive bombardments and the displacement of around 1.5 million people, by UN estimates, has created a dire humanitarian crisis.
As of November 4, Israel had allowed in 451 trucks of food, water, and medical supplies according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Officials say 100 trucks a day is needed to meet the minimum needs in Gaza, which received some 500 trucks daily before the war.
@PalestineRCS teams received 30 trucks loaded with aid through the Rafah crossing today, 3 trucks of them were handed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and 19 trucks to UNRWA, additionally, 8 trucks from the Egyptian Red Cressent were delivered to the Palestine Red… pic.twitter.com/tBtMTXhcvp
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 4, 2023
The airdrop was announced as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken carried out a regional diplomatic tour, holding talks in Amman on Saturday with his counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Blinken visited the West Bank, Iraq and Cyprus on Sunday as he continued his whirlwind trip, which has focused on aid for beleaguered civilians in Gaza and preventing attacks by Iran-backed groups on American troops in response to the war in Gaza.
