A German air force A400M took off from the Wunstorf airbase near Hanover on Saturday bound for Cairo and carrying medical aid for people evacuated from the Gaza Strip, dpa has learned.
The plane took off in the morning and was carrying 7.6 tons on nine pallets, mainly respiration devices and incubators for infants being sent at the request of the Egyptian authorities.
The value of the aid, which is being arranged by the German Foreign Ministry, was put at ā¬1.4 million ($1.5 million).
Further flights are planned in cooperation with a European Union airlift. These flights aim to deliver tents and other aid to people in the Gaza Strip who have lost their homes.
Additional medical aid is to be provided in cooperation with Jordan, with the value put at around ā¬2 million.
Germany, along with other countries, including the United States, has called for more aid transports to be allowed into the Gaza Strip. Services there are reported by aid organizations to be facing total collapse amid an Israeli ground operation to eliminate Hamas.