A Turkish presidential aircraft, loaded with medicines and medical supplies destined for the Gaza Strip, has departed from Ankara to Egypt's capital Cairo.


A group of 20 expert health care professionals are also on board the plane that took off from Ankara Esenboğa Airport at 10:45 a.m. local time (7:45 a.m. GMT).

The team, which includes doctors, will conduct feasibility studies for field hospitals to be established at Egypt's El-Arish Airport in the Sinai Peninsula and the Rafah border crossing as part of the planning in cooperation with the Egyptian Health Minister.

"Our plane has taken off for Gaza with aid. The presidential plane, loaded with medicine and medical supplies, and carrying 20 expert physicians, is now en route from Ankara to Egypt," Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on X.

"Our team will also carry out the feasibility studies of our field hospitals to be established at El-Arish Airport and Rafah Border Gate within the framework of the plans made with the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Simultaneously with these activities, it is planned to send the medicines, medical consumables and medical devices in the list of needs submitted by the Egyptian Ministry of Health to El-Arish Airport with our three cargo planes. In addition, after the necessary coordination is completed, field hospitals and ambulances are planned to be shipped to the region by ship," Koca elaborated.

Israel has imposed a "complete siege" on the Palestinian territory since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, cutting off the densely populated Mediterranean coastal strip from food, fuel, medicines, water and other essential supplies, leading to fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.