A second ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza sailed from Cyprus on Saturday more than two weeks after the last shipment arrived by sea.
Close to 400 tonnes of humanitarian aid is being delivered to Gaza in a flotilla organised by two charities, World Central Kitchen and Spain’s Open Arms. The ships left the port of Larnaca following diplomatic talks by Cyprus to try to open a sea corridor to the territory besieged by Israeli troops since October last year.
There is not enough aid getting through to Gaza and we need to open as many ways as possible, Juan Camilo of World Central Kitchen said in a video shot from the flotilla and posted on X.
Cyprus government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said it would take about 65 hours for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza pier.
World Central Kitchen said the shipment contained products such as rice, pasta, flour, pulses, tinned vegetables and proteins. The United Arab Emirates provided a special cargo of dates, which are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. World Central Kitchen said on X:
We’re sending shelf stable and ready-to-eat food and a special delivery of dates provided by the UAE for Palestinians observing Ramadan.
Despite organised humanitarian deliveries by air and water, UN agencies have repeatedly stated that land deliveries are the only way to deliver the required amount of aid. Earlier, on 15 March, the first humanitarian aid ship, Open Arms, arrived in Gaza with 200 tonnes of food, making a so-called test run for the maritime aid corridor.
Israel launched a military offensive on Gaza following a cross-border Hamas attack on 7 October that killed some 1,200 Israelis. Since then, over 32,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, in addition to massive destruction, displacement and starvation.
