Pakistan to dispatch medical aid to war-hit Palestine

Following the successful approval secured by the Ministry of Health in Pakistan, Pakistani authorities decided to dispatch vital medical aid for Palestinians reeling from Israel’s relentless bombing, ARY News reported on Friday, citing sources within the ministry.

Sources close to the development stated that the Ministry of National Health Services in Pakistan arranged life-saving medicines, surgery kits, and other vital medicines to assist war-affected people in Palestine.

According to the sources, the Ministry of Health will hand over the cargo of medical aid to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Pakistan, after which NDMA will transport the cargo to Red Cross International – an international humanitarian aid organization – to facilitate the seamless distribution of these life-saving provisions to the Palestinian territories.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has yet to make a decision to send a Pakistani medical team to Palestine.

Earlier to this, a chartered aircraft carrying 100 tonnes of essential medical supplies, tents, and blankets will depart from Islamabad for Egypt this afternoon, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

From Egypt, these items will be transferred to the people of Gaza, she added.

She also expressed its disappointment over the results of the emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held on Wednesday, and called for an immediate end to the bombardment and inhumane blockade of Gaza.

“We are nationally disappointed by the results of the UNSC debate. The Security Council should play its designated role to bring an immediate end to the bombardment and blockade leading to a humanitarian catastrophe,” the Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in her weekly press briefing.

Asked whether Pakistan intended to send its troops to Palestine under any mandate, not to fight against Israel but rather for the maintenance of peace, the spokesperson said that Pakistan had no such plan.

She said that Pakistan had a peaceful posture and never started war with any country and always called for dialogue to seek resolution of the issues.