Palestinian Mohammad Al Jaafari, 18, who lost his arm, rests on a bed next to his mother at a hospital in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Reuters

The ninth batch of wounded Palestinian children and cancer patients arrived at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Wednesday, in implementation of the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, to treat 1,000 wounded Palestinian children and 1,000 people suffering from cancer from the Gaza Strip in the UAE hospitals.

Dr Maha Tayseer Barakat, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Medical Affairs and Life Sciences, who accompanied the plane evacuating the injured from Al Arish, confirmed in a statement, the UAE’s keenness, as part of its pioneering role in humanitarian work, to support the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip and alleviate their suffering, through the treatment of wounded Palestinian children and cancer patients, after the significant deterioration that befell the health sector and its inability to meet the minimum necessary health care for the injured, as well as through the humanitarian "Galant Knight 3" operation.

Barakat explained that 49 wounded children and cancer patients were evacuated with their companions, and transferred from Al Arish Airport, under the supervision of a specialised medical team who carried out the evacuation process after examining them and evaluating their conditions in accordance with the health protocol recognised in medical evacuation operations, pointing out that the state’s hospitals have had received 426 injured, before the arrival of the ninth batch.

She added that the Emirati field hospital in southern Gaza has received 2,644 injured people since the launch of its services, whose injuries varied between moderate and severe, and the medical staff in the hospital were able to save many of the lives of our Palestinian brothers, while the total UAE humanitarian aid amounted to 15,000 tonnes of food aid.

The UAE has established water desalination plants with a total capacity of 1.2 million gallons per day, which are pumped to the Gaza Strip and benefit more than 600,000 people.