Director of the Qatar Red Crescent Representative Office in Gaza Dr Akram Nassar, confirmed Friday that the Qatar Red Crescent has made double the efforts to address the effects and repercussions of the Israeli aggression on the strip following the ceasefire agreement and the start of the relief operation to shelter and assist Palestinian citizens.

Dr Nassar said, in statements to Qatar News Agency (QNA), that the relief projects and aid provided by Qatar in general and the allocated part implemented by the Qatar Red Crescent began since the first day of the Israeli aggression, noting that they faced difficulties, complications and obstacles placed by the Israeli occupation that prevented all quantities from entering and reaching the strip.

He stated that in addition to the strenuous political and diplomatic efforts exerted by Qatar to stop the aggression, reach a ceasefire agreement and end the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, its humanitarian efforts and interventions continued to deliver food and medical aid, health supplies, medicines, equipment, shelter materials and the transfer of the wounded and injured from Gaza abroad and from there to Qatar, but all these efforts and interventions were met with obstacles and Israeli rejection, especially after the occupation and closure of the Rafah land crossing.

He noted that the Qatar Red Crescent's assistance varied during the aggression between supplying shelter materials such as tents, blankets, personal living supplies, food and hot meals, and securing sources of usable water in the displacement camps that spread throughout the strip, indicating that the Qatar Red Crescent's focus, since the beginning of the aggression, has been on alleviating the suffering of families in the shelter camps, especially since the material and financial capabilities of the majority of families in Gaza are weak, and have become destitute of income due to the cessation of their interests and businesses during the war, and their limited ability to bear the conditions of displacement and the scarcity of available resources.

He pointed out that with the start of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, there was an improvement in the Red Crescent's capabilities to deliver aid to the strip through the Egyptian side, and the entry of Qatari aid that had been piled up in Al-Arish due to the closure of the Rafah crossing was intensified, and the operations of bringing in aid through the Jordanian side and delivering it to northern Gaza in particular increased.

Regarding the land bridge that Qatar recently announced its launch to supply the Gaza Strip with fuel during the first ten days of the ceasefire agreement, the director of the Qatar Red Crescent representative office in Gaza told QNA, "Qatar has begun implementing the land bridge to supply fuel to the Gaza Strip to overcome the problems of power outages, support public institutions, and ensure their continued operation, especially hospitals, municipalities, water and sanitation facilities, and the communications sector.

Since the first day of the agreement's entry into force, about 25 trucks carrying fuel to Gaza have entered daily with a donation from the State of Qatar. He pointed out that the entry of fuel to the strip since the beginning of the aggression was subject to certain policies on the Israeli side, as quantities of it were supplied to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and were later transferred to the United Nations Office (UNOPS), and then supplied to specific institutions that obtained prior approval from the occupation, as the role of the Qatar Red Crescent in Gaza was to ensure the entry of trucks and deliver them to the relevant institution, which in turn completes the distribution process according to the plans agreed upon by the Israeli side.

Dr Akram Nassar highlighted the significant impact of the Qatari fuel supplies on various aspects of life in Gaza, as many institutions were suffering from fuel shortages, most notably hospitals and health sectors that stopped working during the war, and others were close to doing so due to fuel shortages, as they relied on backup generators to operate hospitals, and without sufficient quantities, several departments stopped for a period of time in several hospitals, and providing fuel through the grant is vital and essential for the continued operation of hospitals in the sector.
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