King witnesses preparations for third delivery of Ops Ihsan

SEPANG: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on Monday (Dec 18) witnessed preparations for Malaysia's third delivery of the Ops Ihsan humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) cargo terminal here.

His Majesty, who was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, spent about an hour inspecting the items kept at the terminal's warehouse and those loaded onto the specially chartered cargo aircraft.

According to a Wisma Putra statement distributed to the media, the delivery this time involved 60 tonnes of items, comprising 35.57 tonnes of medical goods, 6.62 tonnes of ready-to-eat food items, 4.35 tonnes of baby items and 13.46 tonnes of items for winter use, such as mattresses and blankets.

With this third delivery, Malaysia has sent 100 tonnes of items as humanitarian aid, after the first and second deliveries each involving goods weighing 20 tonnes.

The special aircraft is expected to leave KLIA early on Tuesday (Dec 19) morning and land at the Al-Arish Military Airport in Egypt on the same day, the statement added.

"The aid will be handed over to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society to be channelled to Palestinians in Gaza,” according to the statement.

Wisma Putra, meanwhile, said the inter-agency collaboration with the non-governmental organisation was to ensure the process of delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza is carried out in a more structured, integrated and effective way under the supervision of the ministry.

Ahmad Zahid, in his speech, said Ops Ihsan has proven to be effective through the structured and efficient management and use of resources and expertise of the various organisations involved.

"This maiden collaboration has been successful. This collaboration has managed to prevent overlapping and misappropriation to ensure the aid provided met their requirements and reached those in need,” he said.- Bernama