By Abdeljabar Abu Ras
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it carried out the largest humanitarian airdrop operation in the northern Gaza Strip, totaling 90 tons.
The ministry said on X that it was carried out as part of Operation Birds of Goodness and was the 16th airdrop of humanitarian and relief aid in the northern Gaza Strip by joint crews from the UAE Air Force and Egyptian Air Force.
“This is the largest aerial drop, conducted through 3 aircraft carrying 90 tons of food and relief aid,” it added.
It said “the drop operation took place over buffer zones in the northern Gaza Strip that are difficult to reach.”
This brings the total aid dropped since the launch of the operation to 664 tons of food and relief aid, according to the statement.
“Birds of Goodness” comes within the framework of “Operation Chivalrous Knight,” which began on Nov. 5, 2023, based on the directives of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
On Feb. 29, Operation Birds of Goodness was launched to continue for several weeks, “aiming to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian brothers due to the war,” according to a previous statement from the UAE’s Defense Ministry.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Palestinian territories since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have since been killed and some 75,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala