Singapore Red Cross tents for displaced Palestinians arrive in Gaza
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The tents arrived in Gaza through the Karam Abu Salem Crossing and will help about 6,500 displaced individuals.
PHOTO: SINGAPORE RED CROSS
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SINGAPORE – Tents for an estimated 6,500 people displaced by the conflict in Gaza – the latest humanitarian aid contribution by the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) – arrived in the besieged area on Oct 7.
The tents arrived through the Karam Abu Salem Crossing on a day that “marks two years since the onset of the Gaza humanitarian crisis”, said the SRC in a statement on Oct 7.
SRC also said it has contributed an additional $500,000 for relief operations through its other partners in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
This takes SRC’s total contribution to $1.9 million in humanitarian aid.
It said the funds have gone towards medical supplies, hygiene kits, food provisions and parcels, water filtration systems and the operation of the Red Cross Field Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, the SRC is supporting a mobile education unit. A van will be retrofitted into a classroom for Palestinian children in Egypt.
The SRC said it is also contributing to initiatives that deliver medical, mental and community health services to Palestinian families in Egypt.
With the few medical resources currently in Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent Society is focused on providing life-saving support to civilians who have been impacted by the conflict. Medical personnel are working under extreme conditions with limited supplies and equipment as they struggle with more injured people, said the SRC.
It added that many civilians have no choice but to stay in Gaza because they cannot afford the journey south or are unable to transport injured, sick or elderly relatives.
“Families are living in the rubble of destroyed homes or in the streets, desperate for safety and the essentials to live in dignity,” said the SRC.
“With ongoing hostilities and restrictions on the entry of humanitarian relief supplies and equipment, the needs of the civilian population remain immense.”
The SRC on Sept 21 handed over about $1.2 million worth of aid
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam visited the Egyptian Red Crescent headquarters while on his state visit to Cairo in September, becoming the first head of state from any nation to do so, and witnessed the symbolic handover of donations from the SRC.
The contributions – Singapore’s 10th tranche of humanitarian assistance for affected civilians in Gaza – brought the total support from the country to more than $23 million.
The current crisis in Gaza was sparked by an attack by the Hamas militant group on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign, which started several hours later, has killed more than 67,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians.
