The Spanish aid ship before sailing from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus (European)

A Spanish aid ship sailed from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus towards the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in the first trial of a new sea corridor to deliver relief materials to residents of the Strip who are facing war and starvation, amid humanitarian organizations questioning the feasibility of this route, coinciding with the restriction of aid via land routes.

Laura Lanuza, spokeswoman for the "Open Arms" organization, said that the organization's ship carrying 200 tons of food aid set off at around 6:50 GMT on Tuesday morning.

The spokeswoman had previously indicated that Israeli authorities inspected the ship's cargo last Saturday.

The ship was scheduled to set off on Sunday to inaugurate this sea corridor, which will be managed by the United States and the European Union, but it was delayed.

The World Central Kitchen charity, based in the United States, is organizing the mission, of which the UAE bears the bulk of its funding, while the Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms is responsible for supplying the ship.

In the absence of port infrastructure in Gaza, World Central Kitchen said it would create a dock for the ship to dock with materials from destroyed buildings and rubble.

The organization indicated that it had collected another 500 tons of aid in Cyprus to be sent in the next batch.

European team

For her part, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today that the European Union will have a coordination team in Cyprus, and will finance and direct the flow of goods to Gaza.

Von der Leyen said that the situation in Gaza had reached "the point of no return, and all methods must be used to reach those in need."

US President Joe Biden recently announced that his country would build a temporary dock for aid ships to dock in the Gaza Strip.

The US Army said, the day before yesterday, Sunday, that it had sent a logistical ship carrying equipment.

Biden's announcement was met with skepticism and criticism from experts in humanitarian work and officials in international organizations who said that the American move distracts attention from the real crisis in Gaza. UN bodies and humanitarian organizations also criticized the step of airdropping aid into the Strip, as they considered it limited in size, in addition to what it might cause. It causes chaos.

"The path is clear"

In this context, Kazem Abu Khalaf, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said in an interview with Al Jazeera from Jerusalem that land crossings are the way to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

He added that the situation is tragic and painful in the Gaza Strip, and that "the path for aid to enter is clear, but there is no international will to bring it in by land."

Likewise, the Washington Post quoted UNRWA Communications Director Juliet Touma as saying that there are “easier, faster and safer ways than delivering aid by air and sea to respond to people’s needs.”

Touma stressed the need to increase the number of aid trucks through the crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Kate Phillips Barrasso, an official at Mercy Corps, said that airdrops and sea deliveries should be the last resort when all other means of providing assistance are impossible.

He pointed out that airdrops and sea deliveries are expensive and potentially dangerous, and will not match the volume of aid that can be delivered via land routes.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza for 5 months, leaving tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, amid warnings from international organizations of famine, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, as a result of the occupation restricting the entry of aid.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies