ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Saturday announced it had sent its first shipment of humanitarian aid to the war-stricken Gaza Strip as Tehran’s arch-foe Israel continues a relentless bombing campaign that has killed over 4,000 Palestinians.
About 60 tons of aid, including medicines and healthcare equipment, is being sent to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Iran’s state IRNA news agency reported.
Thousands have been reported dead on both sides since October 7 when Palestinian Hamas militants launched a shock air, ground, and sea infiltration into southern Israel. The attack triggered a harsh response from Israel, which launched a bombing campaign on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza and has threatened a full-scale ground offensive.
Iran and Israel are fierce rivals and have been engaged in a shadow war. Tehran has backed Hamas militants as well as other armed groups in the Middle East opposed to Israel such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Israel views Iran as one of the main threats to its national security and has carried out covert attacks on Iranian military and nuclear facilities.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pre-Hossein Koulivand, said that Iran is “prepared to set up three field hospitals on the Gaza border with Egypt, and that the Iranian side is holding talks with international partners in this respect.”
Twenty trucks of humanitarian aid were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip on Saturday through Rafah, according to media reports. Rafah is the only route into Gaza not under Israeli control.
