Student driving ambulance to Gaza is 1500 miles into journey

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – A Scottish student who is driving an ambulance to Gaza to help civilians affected by the war is more than half way into his destination.

Umran Ali Javaid bought the ambulance in January and received approval from COGAT in Israel in March.  He will be arriving at the Rafah border in the next few days. There he will hand over the ambulance to the UN agency UNRWA, which is the largest humanitarian organization working inside Gaza.

The masters student in International Tourism and Event Management said, “During war innocent civilians, especially children, need help. The ambulance can transport those that are injured, and infants, as it is equipped with a neo-natal ventilator.”

He has previously delivered 40 second hand ambulances to various conflict zones, including driving an ambulance to a small hospital in Ukraine in September.

Various paperwork had to be submitted before the ambulance can cross the border into Gaza, which includes COGAT in Israel, and with the Egyptian authorities.

He left from Glasgow last week, reaching the Netherlands, then driving through Belgium, France, Switzerland, and currently is in Italy.  He will reach Greece tomorrow, then drive to Turkey and get a ship to Egypt, reaching the Rafah border in the next few days.

Umran is keeping in constant contact with different authorities and appreciates everyone that has been supportive in helping get the ambulance to its destination. Below is an account from Umran of during his journey:

“Innocent civilians are always the first to be impacted by the horrors of war. Heartbreaking to see what is going on in the region.”

“British ambulances are equipped to help patients needing immediate medical support. They also have distinct marking and sirens which clearly identifies them, enabling them to evacuate civilians from danger zones.”

“A journalist has seen babies pass away due to hunger in a hospital as there were no portable ventilators and they could not be evacuated.”

“This ambulance is more of a high dependency unit that can support infants as well as the elderly and those that are injured.”

“That said, one ambulance can only help a few hundred people in the coming months which is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed.”