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Aid ship from Cyprus 'ready' to sail for Gaza: charity

World

Aid ship from Cyprus 'ready' to sail for Gaza: charity

By Agence France-Presse

NICOSIA, Cyprus - Two hundred tonnes of food aid were "ready" to be sent from Cyprus to war-ravaged Gaza by sea, a Spanish NGO said Saturday, the first shipment along an EU-backed maritime corridor.

AFP__20240309__34L36WJ__v1__Preview__CyprusPalestinianIsraelConflictGazaAid.jpg — The Open Arms vessel, carrying two-hundred tonnes of food aid to Gaza, is seen docked in the Cypriot port of Larnaca on March 9, 2024. A spokeswoman for Open Arms, a charity whose boat docked three weeks ago in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, said "everything will be ready to be able to set sail" later on March 9. The Spanish aid group has partnered with US charity World Central Kitchen to prepare the first aid delivery via the sea route that the EU Commission hopes will open this weekend. (Photo by Iakovos Hatzistavrou / AFP)

A spokeswoman for Open Arms, a charity whose boat docked three weeks ago in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, said "everything will be ready to be able to set sail" later Saturday.

"Depending on all the authorisations and permits, and when we get them", the vessel -- also called Open Arms -- could embark "today or tomorrow", Laura Lanuza told AFP.

The Spanish aid group has partnered with US charity World Central Kitchen to prepare the first aid delivery via the sea route that the EU Commission hopes will open this weekend.

Lanuza said Israeli authorities, which have welcomed the Cypriot initiative, have already begun inspecting the cargo of "200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, rice and flour, cans of tuna".

World Central Kitchen teams in the besieged Palestinian territory have begun "constructing a dock" to unload the shipment, she said, without elaborating for security reasons.

Lanuza said the charity has had people in Gaza "distributing food and cooking" since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its sixth month.

On Friday, World Central Kitchen said it had been "preparing for weeks alongside our trusted NGO partner Open Arms for the opening of a maritime aid corridor that would allow us to scale our efforts in the region".

"World Central Kitchen teams are in Cyprus loading pallets of humanitarian aid onto a boat headed to northern Gaza," it added.

Dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza and overland access restrictions have led some countries to airdrop food and other assistance.

In Larnaca, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday she hoped the maritime aid corridor could open this Sunday, although some details remained unclear.

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