Food charity says Gaza-bound aid ship left Cyprus – NBC New York
A humanitarian ship loaded with some 200 tonnes of food set sail from Cyprus on Tuesday for Gaza, the international charity behind the effort said.
This cargo is a test for the opening of a maritime corridor to transport aid to the territory, where famine is spreading five months after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
World Food Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, posted on social media platform X that a ship set sail on Tuesday. Live Associated Press footage showed it being towed out of a port in the port city of Larnaca.
The United States has separately announced plans to build a sea bridge near Gaza to deliver aid, but it will likely be several weeks before it is operational.
The five-month war, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and driven about 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents from their homes. The UN says a quarter of the population is starving. The attack that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people and militants took around 250 hostages.
Humanitarian groups say it is almost impossible to deliver aid to much of the territory due to Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of law and order after police forces led by Hamas have practically disappeared from the streets.
It is unclear how effective maritime deliveries will be in dealing with the humanitarian catastrophe, as there will still be difficulties in delivering aid once it is inside Gaza.
