SINGAPORE, Jan 9 — The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will deploy a medical team aboard a reconfigured hospital ship operated by the French military to help treat injured civilians in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, said Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen today.

The French Armed Forces had earlier invited the SAF to provide two medical personnel to serve aboard the ship, the FS Dixmude, which is currently docked at the El-Arish port in Egypt, added Dr Ng.

"(The Dixmude) has been treating casualties from Gaza. The SAF has accepted the offer and plans are underway to deploy this medical team to aid civilian casualties there,” he said.

Dr Ng was responding to a parliamentary question about the situation in the Red Sea — where the Yemen-based Houthi movement launched attacks on the key global shipping route in retaliation to Israel’s attacks in Gaza.

The deployment of SAF medical personnel to the region will further Singapore’s efforts in the ongoing conflict. Dr Ng noted that SAF had previously delivered urgent relief supplies to the Egyptian Red Cross for civilians in Gaza in November.

During a visit to Egypt to hand over donations for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Second Foreign Affairs Minister Maliki Osman said that Singapore was working closely with Egypt to see how best to continue helping them.

This included "exploring the possibility of sending a medical team to Egypt to help with medical support”, said Dr Maliki.

Reuters reported that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed 22,835 Palestinians so far, based on figures from Palestinian health officials. Israel said 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’ October 7 rampage and around 240 were taken hostage.

Singapore to take part in Operation Prosperity Guardian

As for the Red Sea situation, Dr Ng said Singapore will be participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is a United States-led multinational coalition formed to respond to attacks by Houthi forces.

The operation was launched under the 39-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), of which Singapore has been a member since 2009. In particular, Dr Ng said Singapore will contribute to efforts by the CMF’s Combined Task Force 153, which has been tasked to keep the Red Sea open and safe.

"It is in our interest... to join cause with the international community to protect and ensure that key sea lines of communication around the world remain open, especially if threatened by unlawful acts by non-state actors or terrorist groups,” he said.

Dr Ng said that around 20 merchant ships in the Red Sea were "unlawfully attacked” by Houthi forces as of January 7 through various means, including the use of missiles and drones, as well as attempts to hijack civilian vessels.

Among the ships attacked by Houthi militants is a Singapore-flagged vessel, the Maersk Hangzhou. Reuters reported that the attack on the container vessel happened on December 31.

"Prior to the attacks, around 60 ships passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea daily, but the number has dropped by about a third in recent weeks,” said Dr Ng.

"Singapore-registered ships have also been affected, with the number of daily transits through the Red Sea now approximately halved.”

However, he said that the immediate impact on Singapore is "expected to be limited”. This is due to the majority of Singapore’s critical supplies being delivered by air freight or other routes not passing through the Red Sea.

"Our local manufacturers also seem to have sufficient spare inventory to hedge against supply disruptions, though they are worried about increases in business costs,” he said.

Responding to a follow-up question on what Singapore would do if the Red Sea situation does not improve, Dr Ng said that he would not want to preempt the situation as it is a complex one.

Nonetheless, Singapore will continue to monitor and assess the situation as it develops.

"But apart from that, we are also watching, as I said, the humanitarian situation unfolding and where we can contribute... meaningfully, we will do so,” he said. — TODAY