Türkiye largest aid provider in besieged Gaza

By Ahmed Asmar and Serdar Dincel

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye topped the list of countries providing humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave, according to data from Israel’s military branch that handles aid transfers.

Data published by COGAT showed that Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have each provided 26% of the total quantity of aid donated to the Gaza Strip.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar provided 15% and 7% of aid respectively, placing them in the third and fourth rank on the list.

COGAT noted that some 322 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Sunday.

The number, however, was far short from the exact number of aid trucks needed to address the dire needs of Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

Gaza-based government media office says that Gaza needs 1,000 truckloads of humanitarian aid every day.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack early last October by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.

More than 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and almost 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

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 (ICJ), which recently asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.