Humanitarian aid sent by sea from Cyprus reached the starving residents of Gaza on Tuesday.
Some 200 metric tons of aid and food — the equivalent of half a million meals — have now been distributed to the Palestinian population, U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) said, a week after the Open Arms ship was dispatched from the Port of Larnaca, Cyprus and three days after it unloaded its cargo.
“The food that reached families facing starvation arrived aboard the first humanitarian shipment to reach the Gazan coast in nearly two decades,” WCK said in a statement.
The food travelled 200 kilometers by sea from Larnaca to a makeshift jetty off Gaza, arriving Friday. A convoy of eight trucks from the World Food Programme brought the aid to its final destination.
The Cyprus government said a second vessel, Jennifer, loaded with some 500 metric tons of aid is ready to leave Cyprus as soon as weather conditions permit.
Representatives from over 40 countries will meet in Cyprus Thursday to discuss the operation and next steps regarding the aid corridor to the Gaza Strip.
“The meeting is mostly aimed at countries that have not publicly expressed interest in taking part in the humanitarian initiative,” government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told local radio.
“The scale of humanitarian aid needed by the civilian population in Gaza today requires the contribution of many states. No state can handle it alone, especially Cyprus,” he added.
Half of the population in Gaza is on the brink of famine, an international early warning system set up by governments and NGOs said on Monday. If Israeli forces launch a ground offensive against Rafah, considered a likely scenario, 1.1 million people will face “catastrophic” conditions by mid-July, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in its latest analysis.
The U.N. agency reports that at least 23 children in northern Gaza have died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks, adding to the mounting toll of children killed by Israeli bombing — up to 13,450, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s latest count.
One in three children under the age of 2 in northern Gaza are now acutely malnourished and famine is imminent, UNRWA, the main U.N. agency operating in the Palestinian enclave, said Saturday in a social media post: “Children’s malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza.”
The U.S. is planning to construct its own floating dock, with a military ship en route carrying building equipment. Washington has also been parachuting food packages into Gaza, along with France and other countries.
Experts warn that neither sea nor air deliveries will make up for blocked land convoys.