European Union launches humanitarian air bridge for Gazans via Egypt

PARIS — The European Commission announced Monday it was setting up a humanitarian air bridge to help Palestinians from Gaza. Humanitarian assistance equipment, including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits, will be flown to Egypt with the hope that the Rafah crossing will soon open to transfer the material into the Gaza Strip.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen posted on the social platform X that "Palestinians in Gaza are in need of humanitarian aid. They cannot pay the price of Hamas’ barbarism." She added, "On top of tripling humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, we are organizing an EU Humanitarian Air Bridge to Gaza through Egypt. With the first two flights this week."

The air bridge operation is managed by the European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC), which is a European Union mechanism offering humanitarian response to sudden-onset natural hazards and human-induced disasters. A statement by the European Commission said that "additional emergency items from EU emergency stockpiles are available and ready to be deployed to our humanitarian partners as soon as requested."