Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Sunday, November 19, 2023

France says it is sending warship to provide medical aid to Gaza this week

By AFP 19 November 2023, 6:09 pm 2 Edit

IDF soldiers in the Gaza Strip's Rimal neighborhood in a handout photo distributed on November 19, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

France is preparing to send its Dixmude helicopter carrier to the eastern Mediterranean to offer medical assistance in Gaza, the office of the French president says.

The Dixmude will set sail “at the start of the week and arrive in Egypt in the coming days,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office says. A charter flight carrying more than 10 tons of medical supplies is also planned for the start of the week.

“France will also contribute to the European effort with medical equipment on board European flights on November 23 and 30,” the presidential office says.

It adds that “France is mobilizing all its available means to contribute to the evacuation of wounded and sick children requiring emergency care from the Gaza Strip to its hospitals.”