JERUSALEM, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Ministry of Defense and Israel's leading airline El Al announced Sunday a joint operation to airlift essential medical equipment from China for the fight against the novel coronavirus.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israel Chemicals company also take part in the operation.
As part of the operation, 11 El Al aircraft will bring millions of items from China, including surgical masks, medical staff protective suits, respirators and more.
The first plane is expected to land in Israel on Monday morning after being loaded with 900,000 masks, 500,000 protective suits and additional medical equipment in Beijing.
El Al will operate two flights a day for about a week until the operation is complete. For this purpose, Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft were temporarily converted to carry cargo.
According to El Al and Israel's Ministry of Defense, the operation was launched after two weeks of preparations, which included international procurement, diplomatic effort and logistical preparation.
