Rev. Franklin Graham’s Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse launched its inaugural 767 cargo aircraft Friday, carrying 290,000 packets of vitamin-fortified food, thousands of blankets and solar lights for women and children in Gaza, the humanitarian ministry’s latest aid mission to the war-torn region.
In an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, Graham said the relief effort comes amid continuing instability.
“Gaza is a very volatile place — it is still dangerous. There are more than 2 million people there who need help,” Graham said. “What Hamas did was horrendous. It was a massacre. Not only did they take 251 innocent civilians hostage from Israel on October 7, they have also held the entire population of Gaza hostage for 18 years. Hamas has got to go.”
He added the plane’s mission was driven by a desire to show compassion in a time of crisis.
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“Today we are taking over 290,000 packets of food loaded with protein and fortified with vitamins, as well as thousands of solar lights and blankets for families who have lost so much,” he said. “Pray with us for the people in Gaza that this cargo will be helping.”
The shipment departed Friday morning from the organization’s Airlift Response Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. Before takeoff, Graham joined staff and flight crew on the tarmac, bowing in prayer beside the towering white jet that marks a new chapter in the relief group’s aviation fleet.
Edward Graham, Samaritan’s Purse COO and Franklin Graham’s youngest son, called Gaza “one of the most challenging places to work in the world” and thanked staff for serving despite danger.
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“The fact that Samaritan’s Purse is able to help there and show the love of God to the people of Gaza is something that only He could do,” Edward Graham said. “I’m thankful for our staff who are willing to go and that their hearts are broken and pierced by the things that break the heart of Jesus Christ.”
The group’s latest airlift comes nearly two years after the outbreak of war, which has left families across Gaza without consistent access to food, electricity or medicine.
Samaritan’s Purse began working in the region immediately after the fighting erupted, sending doctors, nurses and emergency aid. Since then, the organization says it has delivered more than 223 tons of food and distributed over one million rations to civilians, while medical teams have treated more than 1,700 patients.
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This newest shipment continues their work with a particular focus on children and women left vulnerable by the ongoing conflict. The cargo included not only food but also 12,000 solar-powered lanterns to provide light in communities where power has been cut and 12,000 blankets for families who lost homes or belongings.
The effort reflects a long-standing strategy by the North Carolina-based relief group to use its fleet of planes to deliver supplies to hard-hit areas around the world. In recent years, Samaritan’s Purse has deployed mobile field hospitals to Ukraine, distributed emergency shelter kits in Sudan, and helped earthquake survivors in Haiti.
The addition of the wide-body 767 gives the ministry greater reach, allowing it to deliver larger relief shipments on fewer flights.
Franklin Graham said that kind of investment was necessary given the scope of human suffering seen in Gaza and Israel. “This is about showing God’s love to people who are hurting,” he said. “It’s about letting them know they are not forgotten.”
The organization has also worked in Israel, where communities remain shaken from Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack and the months of war that followed. Samaritan’s Purse has pledged 42 ambulances, 28 of them armored, to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, and is supporting 11 major construction projects, including ambulance response stations and community centers equipped with bomb shelters.
Former Arkansas Gov. and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised the effort Friday, writing on X that Samaritan’s Purse is “the most efficient and effective disaster response organization on the planet.”
The 767 is expected to deliver the food and supplies to distribution partners on the ground in Gaza in the coming days. Samaritan’s Purse said additional relief flights are planned as conditions allow.
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“This is not a one-time effort,” Franklin Graham said. “As long as people are suffering, we will continue to go.”