MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. A special flight of the Russian Emergencies Ministry carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip has left for Egypt, the ministry’s press service said.
"Acting on instructions from the Russian president and on behalf of the Russian government, the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s aircraft will deliver humanitarian cargo to people in the Gaza Strip. A special Il-76 flight of the ministry has departed from the Ramenskoye airfield in the Moscow Region for El Arish Airport," the ministry said in a statement.
The humanitarian aid includes 27 metric ton of food, namely, flour, sugar, rice and pasta. It will be handed over to Egypt’s Red Crescent Society for delivery to the Gaza Strip.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank of the Jordan River as well.