By Yildiz Nevin Gundogmus
CAIRO (AA) - Two humanitarian aid ships organized by Türkiye's disaster management agency AFAD and the Turkish Red Crescent will set sail from the country to Gaza by the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in March, delivering various aid, primarily food, according to the agencies on Wednesday.
Head of the Turkish Red Crescent Fatma Meric Yilmaz, prior to a visit by Türkiye's first lady Emine Erdogan to the Egyptian Red Crescent in Cairo, told Anadolu: "Frankly, our hope at the time was that the conflict would have ended by now, but unfortunately, things are not improving in Gaza."
The collaboration between the Egyptian Red Crescent and the Turkish Red Crescent has been increasing, and since the beginning of the events in Gaza, the Egyptian Red Crescent has undertaken an important role, Yilmaz said.
She stressed that regardless of where the aid comes from, the Egyptian Red Crescent provides the logistics, establishes communication, and delivers it to the Rafah Border Crossing.
The biggest problem in the early days of Israel's attacks was logistics, Yilmaz noted, saying: "Although a lot of aid has been arriving, very few trucks were entering. So, we asked for the gate to be opened wider to have more aid to pass through. Since then, the number of trucks entering has increased."
"Actually, there is a continuous need for more sustainable and regular aid here," she added.
Meanwhile, Niyazi Cetinkaya, the head of AFAD's international humanitarian aid department, also told Anadolu that the aid sent from Türkiye amounts to 34,000 tons to be transferred through five ships and 12 planes.
"In addition to the aid sent through Egypt, we sent 26,000 tons of flour in cooperation with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). We delivered 26,000 tons of flour to UNRWA at (Türkiye's southern) Mersin Port," he said.
He said that so far, four shipments consisting of 21 trucks each have been sent to Gaza on a weekly basis.
*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul