A three-ship convoy carrying 400 tons of food and other supplies to starving
Palestinians in
Gaza left a port in Cyprus on Saturday as concerns mount about hunger in the territory. US charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) said the vessels and a barge were carrying ready-to-eat items like rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables and proteins that were enough to prepare more than 1 million meals. Also on board were dates, which are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan. It is the second shipment this month after Israel eased a 17-year naval blockade on the Gaza Strip to allow aid in from Cyprus, sourced by WCK. It comes after Cypriot authorities established, in cooperation with Israel, a maritime corridor to facilitate pre-screened cargoes arriving directly in Gaza. A ship operated by Spanish charity Open Arms inaugurated the direct sea route to the Palestinian territory earlier this month with 200 tons of food, water and other aid. A makeshift jetty was built from rubble to offload the cargo, as the enclave does not have any port facilities. Saturday’s convoy includes two forklifts and a crane to assist with future marine deliveries, as well as a team to operate the crane. Separately, the US plans to construct a floating pier off Gaza to receive aid. The target for completion is 1 May but it could be ready by around April 15, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said late on Friday, citing briefings with US officials earlier in the week. The aid will be taken to Gaza on a cargo ship and a barge towed by a salvage vessel, along with a tugboat carrying a support team in a journey which will take about 60 hours, according to a Cypriot official. WCK, which has been active in Gaza for months, arranged the mission with the Open Arms charity, with financing mainly from the United Arab Emirates and support from Cypriot authorities. It was not clear when this latest convoy of ships would reach Gaza but the
United Nations and partners have warned that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza as early as this month. The US
MILITARY during an airdrop on Friday said it had released over 100,000 pounds of aid that day and almost a million pounds overall, part of a multi-country effort, but humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. The top UN court has ordered Israel to open more land crossings and take other measures to address the humanitarian crisis. Roughly 300,000 people are trapped by fighting in the northern Gaza Strip where the UN has warned famine is imminent. More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million could face famine by July, they have said. More than 80 per cent of the population has been displaced. UN officials have accused Israel of blocking humanitarian supplies to Gaza but
Israeli officials reject those accusations and say the delivery of aid once inside the territory is the responsibility of UN and humanitarian agencies. Airstrikes and Israel’s ground offensive have left 32,705 Palestinians dead, local health authorities said on Saturday, with 82 bodies taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Three United Nations observers and a translator were wounded on Saturday when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in south Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping mission said, adding it was still investigating the origin of the blast. The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL, as well as unarmed technical observers known as UNTSO, are stationed in southern
Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, known as the Blue Line. Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has been trading
fire with the Israeli military across the Blue Line since October in parallel with the war in Gaza. UNIFIL said in a statement on Saturday that the targeting of peacekeepers is "unacceptable" and that the wounded staff had been evacuated for treatment. Two security sources had earlier told Reuters the observers were wounded in an Israeli strike outside the border town of Rmeish.