Islamabad, July 30, 2025: Pakistan announced on Tuesday that it will dispatch two chartered cargo aircraft carrying humanitarian relief to support Palestinians affected by the deepening hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip, where months of Israeli blockade have crippled aid delivery and sparked fears of famine.
In an official statement, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed that, on the directive of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan has approved the urgent delivery of essential supplies to the besieged Palestinian population. Each aircraft will carry up to 100 tons of critical aid, including food and sustenance items.
The flights are expected to depart within the next 48 hours and will be routed through Jordan and Egypt, where Pakistani diplomats will coordinate logistics for the onward transfer of aid to Gaza. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and senior NDMA officials will oversee the departure of the planes from Islamabad.
“Pakistan stands in unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine,” the NDMA stated. “This initiative reflects our continued commitment to alleviating the suffering of innocent civilians, particularly women and children, enduring immense hardship due to the ongoing conflict.”
The aid mission comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaches catastrophic levels. According to the UN World Food Programme, nearly 100,000 women and children are facing acute malnutrition, with reports indicating that a third of Gaza’s population has gone without food for days.
International aid groups, including Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), have condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid access, accusing it of using starvation as a weapon of war. The closure of UN distribution centers and the targeting of aid convoys have further obstructed relief efforts. Under a new distribution model imposed by Israel, Palestinians are forced to traverse long distances under dangerous conditions to receive food, with several reports of civilians being fired upon while queuing for rations.
Since the conflict escalated in October 2023, over 60,000 Palestinians — the majority of them women and children — have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The collapse of organized aid delivery and rising insecurity have only intensified the humanitarian toll on the besieged enclave.
Pakistan’s latest assistance is part of its ongoing diplomatic and humanitarian outreach in support of the Palestinian cause, which Islamabad continues to raise at regional and international forums.
