Libyan aid heads to Gaza

Libya sent an airplane full of aid to Gaza on Tuesday after a week of Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory.

A cargo plane being loaded at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport was the first of four to take essential supplies to the coastal strip.

“This is taking place after the Prime Minister referred a decision to the Libyan Agency of Relief to transport assistance to Gaza including foodstuffs, milk for children, nappies, tents, blankets and medical equipment and medicine,” said Hatem Qassim of the Libyan Agency for Humanitarian Relief.

The planes will land at al-Arish airport in the Sinai Peninsula before the aid is transported by land to Gaza.

“The majority is...the majority of the current assistance which is being transported is a first shipment from the Libyan Agency for Relief and Humanitarian Aid. It is approximately 35 tons, and it is the first shipment, this is the first shipment to Gaza while another flight will take off tonight and, God willing, tomorrow there will be another flight,” said the Agency’s Ramzi Fawzi.

A second plane will leave for al-Arish on Tuesday evening.

Israel launched an air campaign on Wednesday with the declared goal of deterring Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, from firing rockets at its southern communities.

Medical officials in Gaza said 126 Palestinians have died in the week of fighting, the majority of them civilians, including 27 children.

Three Israelis died last week when a rocket from Gaza struck their house.