Pakistan, Palestine discuss ways to send aid to Gaza

GENEVA: Minister for Health, Mustafa Kamal, met with the Palestinian Minister of Health in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, where the two discussed various ways to provide medical and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

During the meeting, Mustafa Kamal delivered a message of solidarity from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause.

“The entire Pakistani nation stands firmly with the brave people of Palestine,” he stated.

The two ministers explored practical ways to deliver aid and discussed mechanisms to ensure the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance to affected Palestinians in Gaza.

Mustafa Kamal said Pakistan had drawn the international community’s attention at the World Health Assembly to Israel’s continued aggression in Gaza.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the Israeli aggression against Palestine, especially in Gaza, in the strongest possible terms,” he said.

He further criticized Israel’s deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical personnel, calling it “a deeply tragic and unacceptable act.”

“The Israeli campaign of genocide and brutal oppression must come to an immediate end,” Mustafa Kamal stressed.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has reached an agreement with Israel to allow the delivery of “urgent humanitarian aid” to the besieged Gaza Strip, according to a statement released Wednesday on Emirati state media.

Israel has come under international pressure to abandon its intensified military campaign in Gaza and to allow aid into the territory, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade has sparked critical food and medicine shortages.

Israel said 93 aid trucks had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday, but the United Nations said the aid had been held up.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE deputy prime minister and foreign minister, “held a phone call with Gideon Saar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, which led to an agreement to allow the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates,” the statement on official news agency WAM said.