Turkey's Red Crescent to send Gaza 8.5 tons of medicine

By Mustafa Deveci

JERUSALEM

The Turkish Red Crescent has announced plans to distribute 8.5 tons of medical aid to the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Friday, Yigit Olcay, head of the Red Crescent’s Palestine delegation, said that two containers of medicine would be delivered to the blockaded enclave on Sunday.

The medicine, he said, would be distributed to local hospitals through Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“Blockaded Gaza continues to suffer from a chronic lack of medicine and medical supplies,” Olcay said.

“On Sunday, we hope to restock Gaza’s hospitals with fresh supplies delivered by the Red Crescent,” he added.

In May, Turkish Red Crescent sent medical supplies worth some $100,000 to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The Gaza Strip continues to groan under a decade-long Israeli blockade that has gutted the territory’s economy and deprived its two million inhabitants of many basic commodities, including food, fuel and medicine.