Remarks by Senior Minister of State for Defence Mr Zaqy Mohamad at the Send-Off of Singapore’s Humanitarian Assistance for Gaza

Good morning, welcome to Changi Air Base.  

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) supports the seventh tranche of humanitarian assistance  to Gaza. Today, we are deploying the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) to support the delivery of our humanitarian package – about nine tonnes worth of medical, sanitary, as well as food supplies.  

Certainly, this is something that we have been working on – Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Coordination Centre (Changi RHCC) as well as our local Non Governmental Organisations do this together. As Minister Vivian shared earlier, we have had many Singaporeans come to contribute, and our NGOs such as Caritas Humanitarian and Relief Initiatives Singapore (CHARIS), Mercy Relief, Relief Singapore, as well as Ministry of Health,  have come together to bring them support.   

Certainly, we are watching very closely the various developments out in the Middle East, and  we hope that there can be lasting peace, and that a resolution and reconstruction of Gaza is  possible. We hope that through the humanitarian assistance that we provided, especially with  the coming month of Ramadan, will bring relief to the Gazans, the Palestinians, who are affected by the current humanitarian crisis. I want to say a big thank you to the Jordanian Government as well as the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation for organising the relief distribution and taking it to Gaza and given the current situation, that we have the opportunity as well to explore opportunities to assist the Gazans especially in this time of need. 

I also want to say thank you to MFA and all agencies who have been working with us, to provide the necessary packages as well as assistance. And of course, this supports our other efforts that we currently have, and other efforts that Singapore has been providing to Palestinians.   

Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to our servicemen and servicewomen from the SAF who stepped forward to take on this mission. As always, as we operate in the conflict zone, there is risk. But this is where the SAF shows operational readiness, willingness to step up to do what we can to help others in need. So, thank you very much, I look forward to the trip, which I will be following to Jordan to deliver the package.  

More resources

Joint MFA-MINDEF News Release: Singapore Deploys RSAF A330 MRTT to Deliver Seventh Tranche of Humanitarian Aid for Gaza