The United Arab Emirates has reached an agreement with Israel to allow the delivery of “urgent humanitarian aid” to the besieged Gaza Strip, according to a statement released Wednesday on Emirati state media.
Israel has come under massive international pressure to abandon its intensified military campaign in Gaza and to allow aid into the territory, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade has sparked critical food and medicine shortages.
Israel said 93 aid trucks had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday but the United Nations said the aid had been held up.
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Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE deputy prime minister and foreign minister, “held a phone call with Gideon Saar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, which led to an agreement to allow the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates,” the statement on official news agency WAM said.
“The aid will address the food needs of approximately 15,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip in the initial phase,” it said.
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The initiative will provide “essential supplies to support the operation of bakeries in the Strip, as well as critical items for infant care, while ensuring a continuous supply to meet the ongoing needs of civilians,” the statement added.
AFP has reached out to the Israeli authorities for comment.
It was not immediately clear when the UAE’s aid would be sent to Gaza, or when it would be distributed.
“Furthermore, the two sides discussed regional and international efforts to resume the humanitarian truce, achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages,” WAM said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week it was necessary for Israel to prevent famine in Gaza for “practical and diplomatic reasons”, after his government announced it would allow limited aid in.
In 2020, the UAE normalised ties with Israel as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords under US President Donald Trump’s first administration, which also saw Israel establish diplomatic ties with Bahrain and Morocco.
Abu Dhabi also has close ties to Israel’s top ally the United States, with Trump visiting the Emirati capital as part of his Gulf tour last week.
The Israeli army stepped up its offensive in Gaza at the weekend, vowing to defeat Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday at least 3,427 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,573.
The Hamas attack in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The UAE has sent aid to Gaza earlier in the war, and also treated patients from the territory in the Emirates.