A barge carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Mar. 15, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
A second ship loaded with humanitarian aid is ready for imminent departure from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip, following the arrival of 200 tons of food on board an NGO ship on Friday, Cypriot authorities said on Saturday.
Cypriot Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis told public radio on Saturday that the ship, named "Jennifer," was ready to leave "today [Saturday] or tomorrow [Sunday]" for the Gaza Strip. The UN fears widespread famine in this besieged Palestinian territory, the scene of more than five months of the Gaza war.
The ship will use the humanitarian maritime corridor opened up from the Cypriot port of Larnaca and used for the first time by the Spanish NGO Open Arms, which towed a barge carrying 200 tons of food supplied by the American NGO World Central Kitchen.
World Central Kitchen said in a statement on Saturday morning that the entire cargo had been unloaded via a temporary jetty built southwest of Gaza City, then transported by 12 trucks before being distributed.
The NGO, led by Spanish-American chef José Andrés, also said it was in the process of loading the second boat with "240 tons" of food: Rice, flour, oil, canned proteins and vegetables, as well as dates, a product traditionally consumed during Ramadan.
The Open Arms ship has now set course for Larnaca, where it is due to arrive on Sunday, according to a spokesperson for the NGO, which plans to take part in further missions to Gaza.
In a message posted on X, Andrés hailed the dispatch of this first boat. "We did it! ... It was a test ... We can bring thousands of tons [of aid] every week," he said.
Confirming the return of the "first boat" and the imminent dispatch of a second, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters on Saturday that he had received "calls from many countries" willing to help send aid to Gaza.
These aid shipments by sea are destined for the northern Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic. They are inspected on departure from Larnaca by the Israeli army, which said on Friday that it had also deployed troops "to secure the area" when the Open Arms cargo was unloaded.
This maritime humanitarian corridor was opened from Cyprus, the EU country closest to the Gaza Strip, to deal with the humanitarian emergency in the Strip and the lack of aid arriving by land.
Four US military ships left the United States this week with around 100 soldiers and the equipment needed to build a jetty and quay in Gaza to unload the aid, which will take 60 days.
The international community and NGOs emphasized, however, that this sea corridor and aid parachutes are no substitute for land routes.