The first sea shipment of food for Gaza left the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Tuesday morning, officials said, the start of an untested sea route to bring aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians the United Nations says are on the brink of starvation.
The ship was towing a barge loaded with nearly 200 metric tons of rice, flour and other food from World Central Kitchen, a charity group. The ship, provided by the Spanish aid group Open Arms and named after her, is the first authorized to deliver supplies to Gaza by sea since 2005, according to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm. which has supported effort.
“It is a lifeline for the citizens,” said Nikos Christodoulidis, president of Cyprus. he said on social media.
With Gaza under an almost total blockade and suffering more than five months of Israeli bombardment, much of the enclave is at risk of starvation, the United Nations has warned. Famine is particularly dire in the north, where UN agencies have mostly suspended aid operations, citing Israeli restrictions on convoys, security concerns and poor road conditions.
Aid groups say very little aid is entering Gaza by land. This is prompting multinational efforts to deliver food and basic necessities by sea and air. The United States, Britain, the European Union and other governments said last week they would create a sea corridor to bring aid to Gaza from Cyprus, and the US military announced plans to build a floating jetty to facilitate deliveries because Gaza has no functioning port.
But U.S. officials said it could take 30 to 60 days to set up the floating jetty, and aid groups and Gaza officials said sea shipments and airdrops are both unwieldy and can’t come close to supplying trucks. Trucks carrying food to Gaza have been loaded with about 15 to 30 metric tons each, according to figures from the United Nations and other agencies, meaning the amount arriving by sea is far less than what enters Gaza. by land in one day.
About 100 trucks carrying food and other supplies entered Gaza each day in February, on average, through the two open land routes. But this is a fraction of what was done overland before the war began in October.
Israel has insisted on inspecting shipments to Gaza and argued that aid intended for civilians could be diverted by Hamas, but says it does not limit the amount of aid coming in. The Israeli government has said it supports the sea corridor as long as shipments are inspected in Cyprus “according to Israeli standards”.
Ms von der Leyen told reporters in the Cypriot port of Larnaca last week that the first sea mission was a “pilot project” and that more would soon follow.
It remained unclear how the World Central Kitchen shipment would be unloaded and distributed once the ship reached the shores of Gaza, a journey of about 240 miles from Cyprus. The group’s founder, José Andrés, the famous Spanish-American chef, said over the weekend that he had begun building a pier in Gaza to receive the aid, but the group did not specify where the construction was.
Construction of the jetty was “well underway,” Mr. Andrés he said Tuesday on social media. “We may fail, but the greatest failure will be not trying!”
The usual sailing time between Cyprus and Gaza is 15 to 17 hours, officials and aid groups said, but added that the Open Arms was likely to take longer due to its heavy cargo.
The ship was carrying rice, flour, lentils, dry beans, canned beans, canned tuna, canned beef and canned chicken, the group said. The UAE provided funding and logistical support for the operation, Mr Andrés said.
Since October, organizers and Palestinian cooks working with World Central Kitchen have served more than 34 million meals in Gaza, according to the group. The organization has set up 65 community kitchens in the territory, run by Palestinians, and has plans for at least 35 more, Mr. Andrés said. About 350,000 meals are served daily, but Mr. Andrés said he would like to distribute more than a million meals a day.
European officials welcomed the news of the ship’s departure.
“We worked hand in hand not only with Cyprus, but with the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom,” Ms von der Leyen told European lawmakers on Tuesday. “When fully operational, this sea corridor could guarantee a sustained, regulated and robust flow of aid to Gaza.”
Niki Kitsantonis contributed to the report.
