By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-11-07

DUBAI -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to set up a field hospital in the Gaza strip, with equipment and supplies headed for a staging point in northern Egypt, official media said.

Five aircraft flew out of Abu Dhabi, headed for the North Sinai provincial capital of al-Arish carrying equipment and supplies for the 150-bed facility, WAM news agency said November 6.

There was no immediate information on how the equipment will be transferred to Gaza, where there is only one operational border point, the Rafah crossing near al-Arish, an official said.

The hospital's facilities will include anaesthetics and surgery, gynaecology and intensive care units "catering to both children and adults," WAM said.

Health facilities in Gaza are overwhelmed, and medical stocks are in short supply, according to a report from the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Since the start of hostilities, 14 out of 35 hospitals with inpatient capacities have stopped functioning and 71% of all primary care facilities across Gaza have shut down due to damage or lack of fuel, OCHA says.

The ongoing war erupted when Hamas terrorists crossed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 and launched a terrorist attack that killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, taking more than 200 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel has unleashed air strikes and has sent in ground troops with the aim of crushing the terrorists in the Gaza strip.

The UAE broke with Arab tradition to establish ties with Israel in the US-brokered 2020 Abraham Accords agreements.

It previously has announced plans to bring about 1,000 Palestinian children and their families from the Gaza strip for treatment at UAE hospitals.

Jordan's King Abdullah on Monday said the kingdom's air force had air-dropped vital medical supplies to a field hospital in Gaza.

Efforts to expand aid

The situation in Gaza remains desperate, with food, fuel and medicine for the 2.4 million residents all running short, according to aid groups.

More than 20,000 wounded people were still trapped in Gaza as of November 2, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

In Türkiye on Monday, as part of a diplomatic blitz to seek common ground with US allies in the region, Blinken said Washington was working "very aggressively" to expand aid for trapped civilians.

"I think we will see in the days ahead that the assistance can expand in significant ways," Blinken added, without providing details.

Blinken called on his latest trip for "humanitarian pauses" to let aid into Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not back Blinken's idea, but the White House said that US President Joe Biden again raised "tactical pauses" in a telephone call Monday.

The United States has highlighted some progress in alleviating the plight of Gaza residents, including by persuading Israel partly to restore water and electricity.

US diplomats also negotiated the reopening of the Rafah crossing.