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Reuters

A ship carrying almost 200 tonnes of food for Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday in a pilot project to open a new sea route to deliver aid to Palestinians 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 journey to Gaza takes about 15 hours but a heavy tow barge could make the trip considerably longer, possibly up to two days. Cyprus is just over 320km (200 miles) northwest of Gaza.
The mission, funded mostly by the United Arab Emirates, is organised by US based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), while Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms supplied the ship.

“Our goal is to establish a maritime highway of boats and barges stocked with millions of meals continuously headed towards Gaza,” said WCK founder Jose Andres and chief executive officer Erin Gore in a statement.
WCK says it has a further 500 tonnes of aid in Cyprus ready for dispatch.
The charities intend to take aid directly to Gaza, which has been sealed off from the outside world since Israel began its offensive in response to an October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
With the lack of port infrastructure, WCK said it was building a landing jetty in Gaza with material from destroyed buildings and rubble.
This is a separate initiative to a plan announced by US President Joe Biden last week to build a temporary pier in the Gaza to facilitate aid deliveries by sea.
Construction of the jetty was “well underway”, WCK’s Andres said in a post on X. “We may fail, but the biggest failure will not be trying!” he wrote, posting a picture of work with bulldozers apparently levelling out ground close to sea.

.@WCKitchen “Operation Safeena”, (boat,vessel) on its way! First trip to the shores of Gaza, learning. At the same time as @openarms_fund is moving, construction of the Jetty is well underway….we may fail, but the biggest failure will be not trying! Thank you to all that made it… pic.twitter.com/vKavoczEJN
— José Andrés 🇺🇸🇪🇸🇺🇦 (@chefjoseandres) March 12, 2024

The mission, if successful, would signify the first easing of an Israeli naval blockade imposed on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas took control of the Palestinian enclave.
The United Nations has warned of widespread famine among Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians five months into the war. Many people are cramped into makeshift tents with little in the way of food or basic medical supplies in the southern city of Rafah.
Cyprus said its maritime corridor offers a fast-track workaround to getting aid delivered where needed.
UN warns of ‘imminent’ famine in Gaza as some resort to eating animal fodder
Cargoes are to undergo security inspections in Cyprus by a team including personnel from Israel, eliminating the need for offloading screenings to remove potential hold-ups in aid deliveries.
The US military said its vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, was also en route to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza by sea. The US military also said it had parachuted more than 27,600 meals and 25,900 bottles of water into northern Gaza.
Jordanian state media said there had been seven humanitarian air drops on Monday, with Jordan, the US, Egypt, France and Belgium participating. Morocco was also scheduled to join the effort, Israeli media reported.




United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has appealed for a truce, the release of hostages and the removal of obstacles to life-saving aid. He said a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah could put the people of Gaza in “an even deeper circle of hell”.
Fighters from Hamas, which administers Gaza, killed 1,200 people in an October 7 attack on Israel and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, an assault that sparked one of the bloodiest wars in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, while infrastructure has been obliterated.
Negotiations on a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas remain deadlocked in Cairo. Israel says any ceasefire must be temporary and that its goal remains the destruction of Hamas. Hamas says it will release hostages only as part of a deal that ends the war.
Hopes of a ceasefire for Ramadan were dashed on Monday when an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City killed 16 people and wounded several others, Palestinian health officials said.


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Aid ship leaves Cyprus bound for Gaza where Palestinians are on the brink of famine

The Open Arms, a rescue vessel owned by a Spanish NGO, departs with humanitarian aid for Gaza. Photo: Reuters

Packages fall towards northern Gaza, after being dropped from a military aircraft. Photo: Reuters

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A displaced Palestinian child carries a ration of red lentil soup, distributed by volunteers in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18. Photo: AFP

Children carry kitchen utensils as they walk towards a food distribution point in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 7. Photo: TNS

People wait to receive cooked food at a refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip on February 27. Photo: Xinhua

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid make their way along a street in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Volunteers distribute rations of red lentil soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18. Photo: AFP

Aid parcels are airdropped over the northern Gaza Strip on March 8 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Photo: AFP

Internally displaced Palestinians children gather to eat food aid provided by a Palestinian youth group in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, on March 7. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. Photo:  Israel Defence Forces via Reuters 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File photo: Reuters

Scenes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Friday. Photo: Bloomberg

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Palestinians search for missing people under rubble In the west of Al-Nusseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip on March 5. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Hamas’ Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar. File photo: AFP

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Smoke billowing over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on Monday. Photo: AFP

The US Air Force dropping humanitarian aid in Gaza City. Photo: AP

Israeli soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Israel Defence Forces via Reuters

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Aid shipment is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply aid to Gaza
Five months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine


The shipment is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply food aid to Gaza, where starvation is spreading five months into the war between Israel and Hamas.


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Aid ship leaves Cyprus bound for Gaza where Palestinians are on the brink of famine

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Aid shipment is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply aid to Gaza Five months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine

Aid shipment is a test for the opening of a sea corridor to supply aid to Gaza

Five months of war have pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine