2024-03-12 23:03:03
This content was published on 13 March 2024 – 00:03
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Michele Campas
Larnaca (Cyprus)/Cairo (Reuters) – A ship carrying regarding 200 tons of food took off from a port in Cyprus on Tuesday in a first test to launch a new sea route to transport aid to residents of the Gaza Strip who aid agencies say are on the verge of famine, five months following… the war.
Although the project was welcomed, senior UN officials said that it does not replace the transport of humanitarian aid overland from Egypt and Jordan. The World Food Program said on Tuesday that it was able to bring the first aid convoy into Gaza City in the northern Strip since February 20.
The rescue ship Open Arms was seen sailing from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus, towing a barge carrying flour, rice and proteins. Most of the funding for this mission comes from the UAE, and is organized by the US-based World Central Kitchen Foundation.
The journey to Gaza takes regarding 15 hours, but the journey of a heavy tug ship may take much longer, up to two days. Cyprus is located just over 320 kilometers northwest of Gaza.
The US Army said that its ship, General Frank S. Beeson, was also on its way to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea. He also said that he airdropped aid into northern Gaza on Tuesday in cooperation with the Jordanian Air Force.
Attention has turned to alternative routes, including sea and airdrops, for aid, with aid agencies saying that delivering supplies to Gaza has faced bureaucratic hurdles and insecurity since the outbreak of war on October 7.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday that negotiators are seeking to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which runs the Gaza Strip, but they are not yet close to concluding an agreement.
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