On Monday morning, an El Al airplane landed in Ben Gurion airport carrying twenty tons of vital medical supplies to be used in the battle against the coronavirus.
This shipment is the first of eleven, transporting a total of millions of items from China to Israel. The aircraft carrying the second shipment took off from China on Monday morning and landed in Israel around noon time. The third aircraft is currently on its way from Israel to China.
The equipment on board includes face masks, protective suits, ventilators, and more, and was arranged by a team including the Defense Ministry’s head of procurement, Avi Dadon, along with representatives from the Foreign Ministry, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL), El Al, the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, and the international freight company Mentfield.
Speaking on Monday, Dadon stated: “This morning we see the culmination of an operation that demanded unconventional solutions to an unconventional problem in this crisis of global proportions. We decided to establish a team in China which would gather the equipment needed and bring it to Israel. I am delighted that El Al is undertaking this operation, which has great symbolic value, and I wish also to thank our partners in the Foreign and Health Ministries, as well as ICL and Mentfield, who all worked hard to make this operation a success.”
El Al’s cargo division manager Ronen Shapiro added, “This flight is the first in a series of eleven such flights. El Al and the Ministry of Defense are proud to be helping the Israeli people fight coronavirus.”