Geoffrey Branger / Photo credit: MARINE GONARD / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
Le Tonnerre, a French Navy ship, is due to arrive in the eastern Mediterranean on Sunday evening to help the Gazans. The objective is in particular to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, but the boat will also serve as a floating hospital, even if the French intervention is not yet fully defined.
As bombings intensify in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s response, the Tonnerre, a French Navy ship, is due to arrive in the eastern Mediterranean on Sunday evening to help Gazans who are overwhelmed by the wounded.
Floating hospital
This 200 meter long building, the second largest in the French Navy behind the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, will initially be used to provide humanitarian aid. Several hundred tons of equipment are loaded inside: food packages, hygiene products, medical resources… everything the Gazan population needs.
And then, beyond cargo, this ship is also a floating hospital. It contains two operating theaters, radiology equipment, scanners, four intensive care beds and more than 60 beds to accommodate the sick and injured. In all, around twenty caregivers are on board.
Where will it be based?
According to information from Europe 1, the Tonnerre does not currently plan to dock off the coast of the Gaza Strip. He will move to continue transporting equipment. It will mainly sail between Cyprus, Lebanon and Egypt. What seems most likely is that the injured Gazans will be transported by helicopter to the ship. Several devices have been embarked for this purpose.
This French intervention is not yet precisely defined. This is the whole point of sending the Tonnerre, since it is particularly versatile, capable, as for this mission, of providing humanitarian aid, but also, if necessary, of intervening during military defense missions, for example .