ANKARA: The third Gaza ship sailed from the Turkish port of Mersin to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on Saturday, carrying 1,600 tons of basic relief supplies and essential needs to be sent to the Gaza Strip, said Jamal Al-Nouri, treasurer of the Kuwait Relief Society and head of the relief committee. Al-Nouri told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) before sailing that the third Gaza Ship aims to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians affected by Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip by providing them with the necessary relief supplies and urgent needs.

The ship is loaded with tons of humanitarian donations. Al-Nouri explained that the aid ship’s cargo included parcels, food, health supplies, shelter supplies, and personal items amounting to about 650 tons, including about 150 tons of dates, in addition to 35,000 food parcels, 35,000 flour bags, and 20,000 malnutrition treatment parcels, each of which contains baby milk, vitamins, and nutritional supplements essential for the health of children and pregnant mothers.

The ship also contains about 5,000 parcels of mother and child care kits (for newborns) and 35,000 parcels of personal hygiene parcels, other care detergents, shelter materials, including 500 tons of supplies, 1,200 tents with an area of 24 square meters, 4,800 sponges, 4,800 sleeping pillows, 3,600 blankets, 1,200 blankets, and 1,200 carpets.

Relief trucks

Officials of the Kuwait Relief Society and the Gaza Ship campaign.

The ship is expected to arrive at the port of Aqaba before mid-August, to be unloaded directly at the port and then reloaded in land trucks in cooperation with the Hashemite Jordanian Charity Organization, and to be directed through land crossings to support and relieve the people of the Gaza Strip.

He praised the efforts of the Kuwaiti ministries, headed by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs, and the efforts of Kuwaiti charitable societies, the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Human Rights and Freedoms (IHH), the Hashemite Jordanian Charity Organization, and officials responsible for managing sea and land ports in Turkey and Jordan, especially their role in quickly completing all procedures for obtaining the licenses necessary for the ship to sail.

For his part, the Deputy Director General of the Society and General Supervisor of the Gaza Ship Campaign, Omar Al-Thuwaini, stressed in a similar statement to KUNA the society’s keenness in recent years to conclude more cooperation agreements, strategic partnerships, and executive contracts with relief institutions and local and international humanitarian organizations with the aim of expanding the society’s message to broader humanitarian horizons and achieving the highest standards in rapid intervention to support those affected by disasters and crises.

Al-Thuwaini said that the success of the ship’s operation comes as a result of fruitful cooperation with various official bodies, both inside and outside Kuwait, as part of the donations of the “Gaza Ship” campaign launched by the Kuwait Relief Society, along with 30 charitable societies and Kuwaiti governmental and civil institutions. He stated that the association signed an executive contract last February at its headquarters with the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) worth $4 million to operate the ‘Gaza Ship’ to support and provide relief to the Palestinians who are affected by the ongoing Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip since October of last year. — KUNA