Turkey sent 35 trucks carrying 630 tons of flour to the Palestinians on Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

It was the first batch of humanitarian aid provided by the Turkish Red Crescent in Ankara, said the ministry in a statement, adding that the organization would provide a total of 10,000 tons of flour to the Palestinians.

Turkey was working on sending urgent food aid worth 1 million U. S. dollars to the Palestinians through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the statement added.

In addition, the Turkish non-governmental organizations were also exerting efforts to meet humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people, it said.

Turkey would also donate 1 million dollars to the Palestinian people by the end of 2006 for the development of small and medium scale industries in the Palestinian territories, according to the statement.

Humanitarian agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories as the Israeli army continued a three- week-old massive air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip to free an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen.

Daily necessities and fuel were running out in the Gaza Strip as Israel shut down all Gaza border terminals after the 19-year- old tank gunner Gilad Shalit was captured on June 25.

The operation, started on June 28, is the first major Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip since Israel pulled out troops and settlers from it last summer after 38 years of occupation.

Source: Xinhua