Emirati volunteers join aid workers and medical staff as part of the humanitarian effort bringing aid to more than two million Gazans.
A slice of Abu Dhabi has come to El-Arish, a small city in Northern Sinai about 50 kilometres from Gaza. Once rarely visited by outsiders, the coastal spot now teems with Emirati volunteers wearing cargo pants and beige vests adorned with the flag of the United Arab Emirates.
They’ve joined UAE government officials, Red Crescent workers and hospital staff in the Egyptian area just outside the strip, part of a humanitarian effort to help more than two million people whose lives have been devastated by the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
Since the start of the conflict almost 10 months ago, aid efforts by the UAE in El-Arish and the Palestinian territory have cost the UAE around $700 million, according to Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi, one of the Emirati officials overseeing the operations.
That includes the setting up of a field hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that has treated close to 50,000 people, according to its staff, and a second makeshift medical facility on a ship anchored close by on the Mediterranean Sea.
The UAE effort is a testament to the growing regional sway of the Gulf nation, which has forged ties with Israel and strengthened its bond with Egypt in recent years – including via a $35 billion investment to help unlock an International Monetary Fund rescue.
The country is using those relationships, and its trillions of petrodollars, to play a leading role in diplomatic and aid efforts in the conflict and has indicated a willingness to help prepare for a post-war scenario – including by sending security forces into Gaza. That said, its influence only goes so far – as the war shows no sign of ending and the Israeli leadership have paid little heed to international calls for a ceasefire.
The UAE could “consider taking part in a temporary stabilisation mission following a formal invitation from a reformed Palestinian Authority,” said Reem Al Hashimy, minister of state for international cooperation, referring to the administration that rules parts of the West Bank and controlled Gaza before Hamas took over in 2007.
Part of the UAE’s motivation could be “to make itself an important diplomatic intermediary that can deal with both Israel and Egypt in a way few other countries can,” said Steffen Hertog, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
