SINGAPORE - A two-man medical team from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) arrived on Jan 18 in El Arish, located in the north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, to support medical operations to treat casualties from Gaza.
The move is in support of Singapore’s humanitarian aid contributions to Gaza, wrote Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in a Facebook post on Jan 19.
The team comprises Lieutenant-Colonel (Dr) Nazirul Hannan Abdul Aziz, a specialist in emergency medicine, and Military Expert 3 Jimmy Woo Ying Ming, who specialises as an operating theatre scrub nurse and in perioperative nursing.
The two men will work with the medical team at the El Arish port on board the French Armed Forces’ FS Dixmude, a landing helicopter dock with modern hospital facilities, which has been treating casualties from Gaza.
“The SAF will continue to support Singapore’s humanitarian aid contributions to Gaza,” said the Ministry of Defence in a Facebook post on Jan 19.
In November 2023, a Republic of Singapore Air Force plane with 46 SAF personnel – including pilots, aircrew, engineers and army security personnel – carried supplies such as medicine, sanitation items and food for civilians in Gaza to Egypt.
The supplies were handed to the Egyptian Red Crescent, which distributed them to civilians in Gaza.
Dr Ng said SAF’s Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre will continue to work with other agencies to provide relief as the crisis evolves.
