KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Three trailers carrying medical supplies, food and drinks amounting to US$1.5 million (RM7.2 million) partly donated by Malaysians for the Palestinians, will leave for the Egypt-Palestine border towards Gaza by Monday at the latest.
The three 12 metre-long trailers carrying all the humanitarian goods will leave from Cairo for the city of Al-Arish, which is located 45 kilometres from the Rafah crossing that separates Egypt and Gaza.
Muslim Care Malaysia (MCM) deputy president Mohd Johari Ismail said the work of packing the emergency aid items into boxes and carrying them onto trucks started yesterday (October 27) with the help of MCM volunteers who have been in Cairo, Egypt, for the past 10 days ago.
He said MCM had spent more than RM500,000 for the purchase of the aid items out of the RM1.5 million already spent on Palestinian emergency aid, and the majority of donations were channelled directly to the Palestinian MCM in Gaza led by a local resident Ahmad Abu Ayesh.
“For aid from Egypt, MCM and Muslim Care Egypt joined forces with the international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Miles of Smiles, which is headquartered in London and also includes NGOs from the United Kingdom, Jordan, Turkiye and Sweden.
“Among the foods that will be sent to Gaza are canned meat, fish and beans, wheat flour, cheese, tea powder, sweets and bottled drinking water. The goods were packed into small boxes of eight kg each,” he said in the statement issued today.
Mohd Johari said among the medical items are wound dressings, wheelchairs, beds, wheeled stretchers, crutches, scanners and ECG (electrocardiogram) machines for heart treatment.
According to him, Al-Arish is now a centre for the collection of goods aid for Gaza and a stadium is used for that purpose.
“In fact, the Egyptian government plans to open a field hospital in the city before relaxing border gate controls to treat thousands of wounded Palestinians,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the entry of lorries carrying emergency aid to Gaza is still limited where so far, only 74 trucks carrying food aid and medicines were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing while hundreds more are still queuing at the border gate waiting for their turn.
Mohd Johari announced that Miles of Smiles also held a meeting with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (PBSM) to plan cooperation, but it was understood that their officers were not allowed to enter Gaza.
“Only aid items are allowed in. Egypt’s PBSM is also now centralising their operations and emergency aid in Al-Arish,” he said.
He said MCM was disappointed because its team could not get approval from the Egyptian authorities to accompany the convoy of three trailers to Al-Arish, however, he assured Malaysians that the mission of delivering aid will be accomplished.
“After the three of us return on Saturday, there will be another MCM team to continue our work for the next phase. Certainly, our focus after this is to go to Al-Arish and then enter Gaza if we get the green-light,” he said.
Mohd Johari led the MCM team in the aid mission which was also joined by MCM secretary-general Ahmad Safuan Ujar and MCM Media exco Tuan Asri Tuan Hussein.
In addition, the parties that collaborate with MCM in the mission of bringing emergency aid to the Palestinian people in this war are the Muslim Consumers’ Association of Malaysia (PPIM), Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), Pertubuhan Khidmat Umah (PKU) and One Nation.
MCM also participated in Op Ihsan coordinated by Wisma Putra with a combination of 45 Malaysian NGOs involving the delivery of 50 tonnes of emergency aid worth RM7 million using an aircraft scheduled to fly to Al-Arish on November 3. — Bernama
