Jordan Times
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Over $30m in aid dispatched to
Gaza in 2009 - JHCO
By Omar Obeidat
AMMAN –– The Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) sent over $30 million
worth of food, medical supplies and humanitarian relief to Gaza last year,
according to official figures.
Starting with the Israeli aggression on the coastal strip on December 27, 2008,
and until the end of 2009, the organisation dispatched 75 aid convoys, with a
total of 1,197 trucks carrying over 13,630 tonnes of relief aid, JHCO
Spokesperson Mohammad Kilani told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.
He added that since the beginning of the Israeli blockade on Gaza on November
24, 2008, a total of 1,239 trucks delivered 14,221 tonnes of aid, worth over $31
million, to the enclave, noting that each convoy consisted of 18 to 24 trucks.
According to the JHCO, 5,000 units of blood and another 5,000 units of plasma
were shipped to hospitals in Gaza last year, in addition to medicine and medical
supplies, including nine ambulances, six kidney dialysis units, four anaesthesia
machines and two defibrillators.
Kilani said the assistance was distributed in coordination with UNRWA to ensure
the delivery of relief items to needy families and hospitals, indicating that
the JHCO also shipped six truckloads of bread and 37 trucks laden with bottles
of drinking water, in addition to other relief items including mattresses,
blankets and household materials.
Jordan also sent shipments of food supplies and prepared meals on military
aircraft and Royal Jordanian planes under His Majesty King Abdullah’s
directives, the spokesperson said.
Cash and in-kind aid were donated by Jordanian citizens, civil society
organisations, as well as other regional and international relief institutions,
he noted.
“The organisation will continue to send assistance to the Palestinian people in
the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as long as donations are still coming in,”
Kilani emphasised, pointing to a 16-truck aid convoy that was dispatched to the
strip on Tuesday carrying medical supplies, food and blankets.
JHCO board chairman HRH Prince Rashid, who saw the convoy off, said Jordan will
continue to send humanitarian aid to Gaza as long as it is needed, indicating
that the JHCO is coordinating with other concerned organisations, including
Palestinian Red Crescent and others working for the UN, to continue sending
relief convoys to the Gaza Strip, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.