Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) carried out its first known flight to Israel on May 19 to deliver medical aid for Palestine, in spite of a lack of formal ties between the two countries, but the Palestinian Authority rejected the shipment, and said it was sent without its knowledge.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) state news agency WAM showed 16 tonnes of medical supplies arriving at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion in Israel aboard an unmarked A330-200, A6-EYP (msn 854). The flight (EY9607) departed Abu Dhabi on the evening of May 19 and departed Tel Aviv later that evening as flight EY9608, RadarBox data shows.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) said the aid included personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical equipment, including ten ventilators.

The flight is significant as it is the first known flight to Israel by a UAE carrier – Israel does not have diplomatic relations with any of the six Gulf Arab countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, although in 2015 Israel opened an official diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi to the International Renewable Energy Agency), with no commercial flights between them. However, relations have improved in recent years, with Saudi Arabia in March 2018 opening its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight (from India) to Israel.

Neither the Gaza Strip nor the West Bank have their own airports, with the result that the majority of cargo headed for Palestinian territory must enter through Israel. Other entry points include Egypt and Jordan, although they are subject to Israeli control.

In a news conference on May 21, Palestinian Authority health minister Mai Kaila said, “The UAE has not coordinated with us regarding the medical aid, and we reject to receive it without coordination," according to an Al Jazeera report. "We are a sovereign country, and they should have coordinated with us first," the minister said.

A source told the Palestinian Maan news agency, any assistance provided in the name of the Palestinian people must be provided through coordination with the Palestinian Authority, not through Israel, which would constitute a form of (diplomatic) "normalisation".

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a Tweet on May 19 that “Some Persian Gulf states have committed the biggest treachery against their own history and the history of the Arab world. They have betrayed Palestine by supporting Israel. Will the nations of these states tolerate their leaders’ betrayal?”

A6-EYP is Etihad’s sole remaining active A330-200, according to ch-aviation’s ch-aviation fleets module. According to RadarBox ADS-B data, it was briefly leased to Saudia (SV, Jeddah International) between August and December 2019. Etihad’s other Airbus types are nineteen A320-200s, ten A321-200s, four A350-1000s and ten A380-800s, although these are all for the most part inactive due to the coronavirus pandemic.