Turkish Red Crescent continues aid efforts in Gaza

The Turkish Red Crescent is continuing humanitarian aid operations for the Gaza Strip, working to ensure assistance sent from Türkiye reaches the territory, its president said Tuesday.

Speaking at Egyptian Red Crescent warehouses in Egypt’s El-Arish, Fatma Meric Yilmaz said the Turkish organization has carried out various humanitarian aid operations for Gaza since 2023.

Yilmaz said the organization is closely monitoring the delivery of aid sent from Türkiye.

She said the latest vessel, dispatched during the first week of Ramadan, carried enough supplies to fill about 400 trucks for delivery to Gaza.

The aid was turned back at border crossings for various reasons and subsequently unloaded at warehouses in El-Arish, she said.

Currently, about 15 trucks carrying aid from Türkiye are able to enter Gaza each day, Yilmaz said.

“Quickly, the aid sent by Türkiye here is being directed inside,” she said.

Yilmaz emphasized the importance of the Egyptian Red Crescent’s coordination in delivering aid to Gaza. She said individual items sometimes must be removed from packages before they can be resealed.

She also praised Egyptian Red Crescent volunteers for their efforts throughout the process.

Operations continue in Gaza

Yilmaz said the entry of aid into Gaza is not the organization’s only channel of assistance, with the Turkish Red Crescent continuing operations in the territory through its personnel and delegation.

The organization operates three soup kitchens in Gaza, she said.

“Every day, we prepare and distribute 30,000 hot meals. This amounts to an operation of approximately 100 million liras per month,” Yilmaz said.

She stressed that hot meals are particularly important for people unable to prepare food themselves and said aid is being diversified according to needs on the ground.

When the flow of aid into Gaza slows, the organization obtains food parcels from within the territory and distributes them, Yilmaz said.

It also distributes 100 tons of drinking water every day, she said.

The Turkish Red Crescent is also continuing psychosocial support programs, particularly for children, Yilmaz said.

The organization has launched a new prosthetics project for people who have lost limbs and is providing health assistance, she added.

- ‘We are following through on what Turkish people entrusted to us’

Yilmaz said the Turkish public remains highly sensitive to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and that the organization will continue working to ensure aid entrusted to it reaches those in need.

“We are following through on what the Turkish people entrusted to us,” Yilmaz said.

She said the organization monitors the entire process, from delivering supplies sent aboard aid ships to Gaza to converting cash donations into hot meals, drinking water, toys and hygiene supplies.

Yilmaz said the Turkish Red Crescent would continue its efforts to ensure Gaza is neither forgotten nor allowed to fade from public attention.

“We are doing everything we can, and we will continue to do so,” she said.