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Union aid plane delivers for Gazans
9 January 2009
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| The humanitarian supplies are unloaded before being handed over to the Red Crescent | |
The first planeload of humanitarian supplies for the people of Gaza has been delivered as part of a trade union relief operation.
An Airbus 310 organised and loaded by Jordan’s General Trade Union of Workers in Air Transport and Tourism and the ITF landed at Al-Areesh airport, Egypt, yesterday afternoon (Thursday), containing three ambulances, medical supplies, food and water. The cargo was handed over to the Red Crescent for onward distribution in Gaza later the same day. The aircraft was made available free for the flight by Royal Jordanian Airlines.
Bilal Malkawi, ITF Representative for the Arab World, who was on the aircraft – which he and Jordanian trade unionists helped load – described the cargo: “We’ve collected what was most urgently requested by medics in Gaza. Mostly non-perishable items – examination tables, beds, wheelchairs, swabs, casts and splints for broken limbs. Plus bottled water, milk for babies, rice, wheat, and children's food.”
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft added: “We hope that this will be the first of several mercy flights carrying humanitarian supplies. Vital though these medical supplies are, they do not lessen in any way the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
The international trade union movement, including the ITF, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the Palestinian and Jordanian trade union congresses (PGFTU and GFJTU), have all backed a call for trade unions to sponsor humanitarian relief aid to Gaza. Unions wishing to make donations should send an email marked ‘Gaza Aid’ to info@ituc-csi.org
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