A full field hospital funded by the UK will arrive in Gaza this week, following 150 tonnes of aid.

The aid – including 840 family-sized tents, 13,000 blankets and hygiene supplies – enters Gaza today.

The field hospital left Manchester on 5 March and is en route to the war zone.

It can be adapted according to the needs on the ground and includes a pharmacy, triage area, major injuries and resuscitation unit, and maternity care tent.

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It can be set up in as little as 48 hours once it arrives, and will be capable of treating more than 100 patients a day.

International medics, including many from the UK, will help staff the hospital, alongside local health workers.

As well as the latest aid deliveries, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has announced £10m in further aid for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Lord Cameron said: “Too many people in Gaza are suffering.

“Our largest aid delivery, combined with a new UK-funded field hospital, will save lives.”

An estimated 3.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in occupied Palestinian territories, the UK government says, with over half a million at risk from famine.

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It comes after Lord Cameron urged Israel to open one of its ports to allow aid arriving by sea to get through to Gaza.

He also called for more visas to be issued to UN workers to ensure humanitarian assistance could be distributed.

Speaking in the House of Lords this week, Lord Cameron said: “We are doing all we can to increase aid into Gaza.

“We have been collaborating with Jordan on humanitarian aid drops and are now working with partners to operationalise a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.

“However, this cannot substitute delivery by land which remains the best way to get aid in at the scale that is needed.”

He added: “Israel must remove restrictions on aid and restore electricity, water and telecommunications.”

On Tuesday, an aid ship carrying almost 200 tonnes of food for Gaza finally left Cyprus on Tuesday after a delay.

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The charity ship Open Arms, a rescue vessel owned by a Spanish non-governmental organisation (NGO), was seen sailing out of Larnaca port in Cyprus, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein.

The journey spans more than 200 miles and could take the heavy ship up to two days to complete.

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The US military said one of its vessels was also en route to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea.

The UN estimates that 25% of the population of Gaza is at risk of starvation.

It has accused Israel of blocking aid to the territory, and has previously described aid access into Gaza as “unpredictable and insufficient”.

The UN has blamed a mixture of military operations, insecurity, and extensive restrictions to the delivery of essential supplies since Hamas’s deadly cross-border attack on 7 October – which sparked a military response by Israel.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

An Israeli government spokesperson previously insisted to Sky News there were “no limits on the amount of aid that can go into Gaza”.

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