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The tug “Open Arms”: The ship’s mission is considered a pilot project for supplying people in the Gaza Strip

Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/dpa

A little relief for the people in the Gaza Strip: The first ship with relief supplies that reached the coast of the Palestinian territory in the morning is now being unloaded.

The tug “Open Arms” set sail from the Cypriot port of Larnaka on Tuesday and is carrying a platform with around 200 tons of relief supplies.

The food would be enough for 37 million meals, wrote WCK boss José Andrés on X. »So far, two pallets have been unloaded from the platform.

But there's more to do in the next few hours," he added.

The ship's mission is considered a pilot project to improve supplies for more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, who are currently lacking virtually everything because of the war.

Also because the Israeli army repeatedly delays and hinders deliveries to the Gaza Strip.

Israel's government has recently been loudly criticized for this.

United Nations organizations have been warning about the danger of famine in the Gaza Strip since December.

According to UNICEF findings, in the northern part of the region, almost a third of children under the age of two are acutely malnourished.

In January it was 15.6 percent of children, according to the UN Children's Fund.

"The speed with which this catastrophic child hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip has developed is shocking, especially since the urgently needed help is available just a few kilometers away," said UNICEF head Catherine Russell, referring to Israel.

The organization particularly warns of severe acute malnutrition among children in emergency shelters and health centers in the northern Gaza Strip.

The ship that has now arrived uses the route along a planned aid corridor that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidi announced a week ago in Larnaca on Friday.

Independently of this, the USA is planning a maritime corridor to Gaza, for which the US military should create a floating dock near the Gaza coast.

The war was triggered by a massacre carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7th.

On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people were killed.

Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

On the Palestinian side, nearly 31,500 people have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.

spr/dpa