A fixed destination, a boat and a plane mobilized, but questions remain. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Armed Forces confirmed on Friday the imminent arrival of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Israeli forces since the Hamas attacks. This assistance has been deployed in several formats, but the distribution of which has yet to be specified. For the time being, the aid promised to the Gazans is trickling into the disaster zone.
The first to arrive in the region is a humanitarian cargo plane that will leave on Saturday morning, carrying 50 tons of humanitarian supplies, a source at the Foreign Ministry said. In these packages, medicines, food supplements and tents. "The needs are enormous and will grow," the source said, adding that the ministry is "thinking" about more aid "in the coming days."
In the aftermath, the "Tonnerre", an imposing multi-purpose helicopter carrier, headed for the eastern Mediterranean. The famous ship, which has just passed Sicily, could arrive "at the end of the weekend", a military source said. Its mission is to "make available" its "modular" hospital with about sixty beds, equipped with four intensive care beds, two operating rooms, and whose capacity can increase according to needs.
VIDEO. What does "Le Tonnerre", the French military ship on its way to Gaza, look like?
Arrival in Gaza still uncertain
On board were 200 sailors, as well as about <> medical staff, including surgeons and doctors. At this stage, it is not clear whether the ship is already housing humanitarian cargo. But the "Tonnerre" will, on the other hand, be able to take on board hundreds of tons of equipment during its various stopovers "in the region", specifies the same military source.
Will this helicopter carrier be able to dock in Gaza, which is hit by a land, air and sea blockade? Nothing is clear this Friday from the French authorities, who are defining for the moment a "zone of operation" for the ship in the eastern Mediterranean from Cyprus. "The implementation of a humanitarian mission will be adapted" to the place where the boat will be able to "dock or park", it says.
For the plane sent on Saturday, the aid is expected to be stored in Egypt, before possibly being able to cross the Rafah border point in the southern Gaza Strip. There is little hope that this aid will arrive in time: only a few dozen trucks have crossed the border in recent days, much to the chagrin of the UN, which is calling for massive aid for the 2.4 million Gazans deprived of everything.
€20 million in aid
In total, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates the amount of new aid granted to the Palestinian territories at 20 million euros, in addition to 62 million euros in aid before 7 October.
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Of these 20 million, 6 million are used for emergency response, with the rest divided between UN agencies and international and French NGOs present on the ground. €500,000 will also be sent to the Jordanian hospital in Gaza, through the French Embassy in Jordan, according to the Quai d'Orsay.
To unblock the passage of aid, President Emmanuel Macron on Friday renewed his call for a "humanitarian truce" in the war between Israel and Hamas. "We consider that the complete blockade, the indiscriminate bombing and even more so the prospect of a massive ground operation are not likely to adequately protect the civilian population," he told a press conference after an EU summit in Brussels. "A humanitarian truce is now useful to be able to protect those who are on the ground, who have suffered bombings," the head of state insisted.