Wrapup 4: First Gaza aid ship leaves Cyprus as Palestinians on brink of famine

Rite Aid

12/03/2024 08:00

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      LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
    

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      Second aid ship to depart Cyprus 'within days', WCK says
    

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      WCK manager says charity has team on the ground to help
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    By Michele Kambas and Nidal al-Mughrabi
       LARNACA/CAIRO, March 12 (Reuters) - A ship carrying 200
tonnes of aid for Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday in a pilot project
to open a sea route to deliver supplies to a population aid
agencies say is on the brink of famine.
    The charity ship Open Arms was seen sailing out of Larnaca
port in Cyprus, towing a barge containing flour, rice and
protein. The mission was funded mostly by the UAE and organised
by U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK).
    The journey to Gaza takes about 15 hours but a heavy tow
barge could make the trip take considerably longer, possibly up
to two days. Cyprus is just over 200 miles (320 km) north-west
of Gaza.
    The U.S. military said its vessel, the General Frank S.
Besson, was also en route to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza
by sea.
    With aid agencies saying deliveries into Gaza have been held
up by bureaucratic obstacles and insecurity since the start of
the war on Oct. 7, and even Israel's allies demanding easier aid
access to the enclave, attention has shifted towards alternative
routes including sea and air drops.
    Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said
on Tuesday that negotiators seeking a ceasefire between Israel
and Hamas, which controls Gaza, were not close to a deal.
    Washington had said for weeks that it hoped for a truce deal
in time for the Ramadan Muslim holy month that began this week,
but it has so far failed to materialise with the sides unable to
agree terms to halt fighting, free hostages and bring in aid.
    Tuesday's sea supply mission was the culmination of months
of preparation by Cyprus, the EU member state closest to the
conflict. It is keeping a wary eye on spillover effects from
upheaval in the Middle East and is already seeing migratory
inflows from Lebanon increasing. More than 400 people arrived in
fishing boats on Monday.
    With the lack of port infrastructure in Gaza, WCK said it
was building a landing jetty with material from destroyed
buildings and rubble, a separate initiative to a plan announced
by U.S. President Joe Biden last week to build a temporary pier.
    Construction of the jetty was "well underway", WCK founder
Jose Andres said in a post on X, posting a picture of bulldozers
apparently levelling out ground close to the sea.
    WCK Activation Manager Juan Camilo Jimenez told Reuters a
second vessel would depart within the next few days.
        "Part of our calculation is the port will be ready when
we arrive there and more importantly we have a team there to
support the distribution of this aid," he said, referring to a
WCK team that has been on the ground in Gaza for several months.
  
    The U.N. humanitarian office welcomed efforts to provide aid
by sea and air, but said it would not be enough. Aid agencies
say such efforts can provide only limited relief as long as most
land crossings are completely sealed off by Israel.
    "It's not a substitute for the overland transport of food
and other emergency aid into Gaza," said spokesperson Jens
Laerke. "It cannot make up for that."
        Israel says it is not to blame for Gaza's hunger, as it
is allowing aid through two crossings at the southern edge of
the territory. Aid agencies say that is not enough to get
sufficient supplies through, particularly to the northern part
of the pulverised enclave that is effectively cut off.
    
    'DIRE' CONDITIONS
    The U.N. estimates a quarter of the population in Gaza is
now at risk of starvation.
    "We are being starved in two ways: food is scarce, and the
little that is available is so expensive as to be beyond
imagination," said Yamen, a father of four, whose family took
shelter in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
    The conflict has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million
people, more than half of whom are now crammed into the southern
city of  Rafah, mainly in makeshift tents.
    There have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents at aid
distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food. 
    On Tuesday, Palestinian health officials reported that nine
Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire
when crowds were awaiting aid trucks at the Kuwait Square in
Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the
incident.
    In one incident last month, more than 100 Palestinians were
killed while queuing for aid. Gaza health authorities blamed
Israeli fire for the deaths; Israel denied blame and said
victims had been trampled. 
    "Bombing gatherings of hungry people has become a daily
routine practiced by the occupation and seen by the
international community on screens," Ashraf Al-Qidra,
spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday.
    "Hunger will claim the lives of all residents in northern
Gaza. Aid is very scarce. The price of a meal could mean certain
death. Help the people of the north. Don't leave them prey to
hunger, bombing, and disease."
    Fighters from Hamas, which administers Gaza, killed 1,200
people in an Oct. 7 attack on Israel and took 253 hostages,
according to Israeli tallies.
    Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least
31,184 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and injured
72,889.
    Ceasefire talks have so far failed to reach a breakthrough,
with Israel saying it is interested only in a temporary truce to
free hostages, and Hamas saying it will let them go only as part
of a deal to permanently end the war.
    Qatar, mediator alongside Egypt and the United States, said
on Tuesday it was working to establish a permanent ceasefire,
rather than a short-term truce.
    "We are not near to a Gaza ceasefire deal but remain
hopeful," Al-Ansari added at a press conference in Doha.

 (Reporting by Michele Kambas, Stamos Prousalis and Yiannis
Kourtoglou in Cyprus, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Gabrielle
Tetrault-Farber in Geneva; Writing by Michael Perry and Sharon
Singleton; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
 ((michele.kambas@thomsonreuters.com))