Mr Alex Yam Ziming asked the Minister for Defence following the return of the Singapore Armed Forces team from the airdrop mission in Gaza for humanitarian assistance (a) what is the Ministry's assessment of the cooperation with regional partners such as with Jordan; (b) what is the assessment of the success of the mission; and (c) whether more airdrops or other aid delivery with regional partners are being considered.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: In recognition and response to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, Singapore has delivered multiple tranches of assistance to alleviate the sufferings of Palestinians, coordinated by the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief Coordination Centre (RHCC). The Singapore Government first donated $300,000 in October last year, through the Singapore Red Cross to support relief efforts. In November, a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) conveyed humanitarian supplies, comprising meal packs and critical supplies to El-Arish for onward delivery to Gaza. In January this year, the SAF deployed a two-man medical team aboard the French Armed Forces' FS Dixmude docked at El-Arish Port in Egypt to provide medical aid and post operative nursing care to civilian casualties from Gaza.

As the member stated in his question, the RSAF also recently deployed an MRTT and a C-130 transport aircraft to deliver critical essential supplies to Jordan, with the C-130 staying on for two weeks to participate in airdrop operations over Gaza.  During their deployment, the C-130 and mission crew from the RSAF and the Singapore Army successfully delivered over 20 tonnes of food supplies, equivalent to 59,000 meals into Gaza.

These efforts were made possible with the support of the governments and militaries in the region. In particular, the Jordanian Armed Forces worked in close coordination with the SAF to prepare and execute the humanitarian airdrop operations. These incidents remind us of the importance of building and maintaining our partnerships not only in our region but elsewhere in the world.

The mission also gave the SAF an invaluable opportunity to test their operational readiness and validate their tactics and procedures. They responded within six days of activation, and successfully mounted airdrop operations almost 5,000 miles away from Singapore. Thankfully, they had conducted regular training for such operations, most recently during Exercise Wallaby held at Shoalwater Bay in Queensland, Australia last year.  

The SAF continues to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely and will assess how they can work with international partners and stakeholders to further support humanitarian assistance for Gaza.