Rice, flour, lentils, meat and canned tuna... The 200 tons of food transported by the Open Arms raise a lot of hope for Gazans.

Some rushed to the beach in the south of Gaza City on Sunday, hoping to see the ship arrive, in vain, AFP reported.

Time is running out to avoid the famine that threatens the 2.4 million inhabitants of this besieged territory.

Faced with the humanitarian emergency in the Palestinian enclave, where Israel has imposed a total siege since the start of the war against Hamas on October 7, 2023, the European Union has set up a sea route from Cyprus, the country of the EU closest to the coasts of the Middle East.

Inaugurating this humanitarian corridor, the boat belonging to the Spanish NGO Open Arms left the port of Larnaca, approximately 370 kilometers from Gaza, on the morning of Tuesday, October 12.

But this unique operation, co-organized by World Central Kitchen (WCK) led by the Hispanic-American José Andrés, involves significant logistical challenges.

Under Israeli land, air and sea blockade for sixteen years, Gaza has no port, which complicates the disembarkation of the humanitarian ship.

How will the crew of the Open Arms, supported on the ground by WCK volunteers, succeed in unloading their cargo?

“We have been working on this technical project for several weeks. We had to show imagination and find a way to resolve all these obstacles linked to the disembarkation location which will be done from the platform that we are transporting,” explains Laura Lanuza, carrier. word of Open Arms.

⛴️ This morning, the joint mission of #OpenArms and @WCKitchen set sail from the port of Larnaca 🇨🇾 towards #Gaza, carrying a substantial load of 200 tons of food.



🕊️This is how this humanitarian maritime corridor to the Strip began, in a highly complex mission.

We are confidant… pic.twitter.com/D6kwMuiKop

— Open Arms ENG (@openarms_found) March 12, 2024

This floating platform, where the 200 tonnes of food are located, is currently towed by the humanitarian ship in the middle of the Mediterranean.

In a video filmed before the flotilla's departure from Cyprus and posted on X, the NGO WCK explains: "You can see behind me. We have this barge. It is a barge of around 200 tonnes that we We are loading all kinds of food aid right now. Once it arrives at its destination, it will be lifted by a crane. Then we will transport the food to the northern Gaza Strip to help the people who need it right now ".

WCK's John is in Larnaca, Cyprus where our team is working alongside @openarms_fund, United Arab Emirates & Cyprus to send food aid by sea to Gaza.

The maritime aid corridor will immediately allow us to scale our efforts & reach more families in northern Gaza.#ChefsForThePeople pic.twitter.com/3jq1KoGilE

— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) March 9, 2024

Construction of a pier in Gaza

At the same time, on site, World Central Kitchen teams are working "day and night" on the construction of a pier, says the NGO, which has extensive experience in providing humanitarian aid around the world. entire.

“In Gaza, it already runs around 60 kitchens run by local residents, mainly women, who cook and prepare meals for those in need,” Haaretz said.

“But the influx of large quantities of goods will require special preparations – warehouses, transport, security and supervision of distribution, which have not yet been possible to organize,” worries the left-wing Israeli daily.

Neither the location of this pier nor the day of the landing have been specified for security reasons.

The tragedy during which more than 115 Palestinians were killed on March 1 during a delivery of humanitarian aid, crushed in a crowd and also hit by Israeli fire, is on everyone's minds.

Also read: What we know about Israeli shooting on an aid convoy in Gaza and the deadly stampede

“We have to be careful. We have every guarantee that everything will be fine, but the reality in Gaza changes all the time,” admits Laura Lanuza.

“We are obviously trying to avoid any danger for the population.”

The Israeli agreement

Initiated by the two NGOs, the operation is also supported by Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel agreed.

The ship's cargo was inspected beforehand by Israeli military personnel who came to Larnaca to ensure that it was not carrying military equipment, weapons or materials that could be used for military purposes, Haaretz said.

Israel has also committed to taking part in the project to build a pier promised by the United States on the coast of Gaza.

The Pentagon said construction of the structure will take up to 60 days and will likely involve more than 1,000 troops.

The temporary port “could provide more than two million meals per day to the citizens of Gaza,” detailed its spokesperson, Pat Ryde.

An American military ship left the United States with the materials needed to build this pier.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was “coordinating the establishment” of this infrastructure.

“We will ensure that aid reaches those who need it,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant Gallant promised Sunday on X from a military boat off the coast of Gaza, assuring that this "will accelerate the collapse of Hamas."

Israel accuses the Palestinian movement, which took power in Gaza in 2007, of diverting humanitarian aid to the territory.

הגעתי הבוקר לחופי עזה, כדי לבחון מקרוב את ההכנות המתבצעות לקראת הקמ ת הרציף הימי.



יחד עם מפקד חיל הים האלוף דוד סער סלמה והמתפ״ש האלוף רסאן עליאן, התר שמתי כי הסיוע הימי יסייע להשגת אחת ממטרות העל במלחמה:


מיטוט שלטון החמ אס.



נדאג שהסיוע יגיע למי שצריך, ולא יגיע למי שלא צריך.

pic.twitter.com/qYMxgyahGr

— יואב גלנט - Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) March 10, 2024

A second humanitarian cargo ship in the starting blocks

The construction of this temporary and secure port should make it possible to sustain the arrival of aid by sea. But faced with the imminent risk of famine in Gaza, where according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 25 people, for the majority of children, have already died of malnutrition and dehydration, Open Arms did not wait.

The NGO is already preparing a second humanitarian aid ship with Cyprus, which announced that this second cargo ship would be "much larger".

“If everything goes as planned (...), we have already put in place the mechanism for a second, much larger cargo ship, and then we will work to make it a more systematic process with larger volumes,” he said. he indicated later, during a press conference in Beirut where he met his Lebanese counterpart.

Read alsoFamine in Gaza: in the North, “people have nothing left to eat”

Sending aid by sea and airdrops which have increased in recent days cannot replace the land route, believes the UN.

While welcoming the departure of the first humanitarian ship, the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, reaffirmed, on Tuesday, the "need for land access and secure and safe deliveries." regular."

The fall of packages dropped by planes on Gaza City on March 9 killed five people and injured ten, according to a hospital source.

"The parachute did not open and the cargo fell like a rocket on the roof of one of the houses," Mohammed al-Ghoul, a 50-year-old man living in the refugee camp, told AFP. 'al-Shati where the accident took place.

The Jordanian and American armies affirmed that none of their aircraft was at the origin of the tragedy.

Belgium, Egypt, France and the Netherlands are also carrying out aid drops into the territory.

With AFP

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