Finland will send 500,000 euros (about US$675,000) in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, according to reports reaching Stockholm on Thursday from the Finnish capital of Helsinki.

Finland's support was conveyed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) through the Finnish Red Cross, the government said in a statement.

The ICRC has 75 workers in Gaza, and the Palestine Red Crescent Society has nearly 300 workers.

Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis, said the statement, adding that aid work has to be carried out in extremely difficult conditions, especially in the densely populated Gaza Strip, amid Israeli military operations.

Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on December 27 and ground operations on January 3. More than 700 people have been killed and some 3,000 injured in the ongoing conflict.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2009)