By Ibrahim Al-Khazen
ABU DHABI, UAE (AA) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday announced the arrival of the first aid convoy by land to the northern Gaza Strip.
"The first Emirati aid convoy has arrived in the northern Gaza Strip by land, consisting of 17 trucks," the Joint Operations Command of the UAE Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The convoy is considered the first to have been dispatched by any country by land to the northern Gaza Strip amid a crippling Israeli blockade on the enclave.
The convoy carried over 370 tons of relief aid, including food and medical supplies, food supplements, clothing, shelter materials and other necessities.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
Over 33,300 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war, now in its 186th day, 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 (ICJ), 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 Mohammad Sio in Istanbul