LARNACA: A second vessel carrying aid to war-torn Gaza set sail from Cyprus on Saturday, an AFP correspondent reported, more than two weeks after the last shipment arrived by sea.
Almost 400 tons of aid is being carried to Gaza on a flotilla organized by two charities — the US-based World Central Kitchen and the Spanish Open Arms.
The barge and two salvage vessels left the port of Larnaca following diplomacy by Cyprus to try to open a maritime corridor to the territory, under siege by Israeli forces since last October.
“There is not enough aid getting through to Gaza and we need to open as many ways as possible,” Juan Camilo of World Central Kitchen said in a video shot from the flotilla and posted to X/Twitter.
With insufficient aid trucks entering Gaza by road more than five months into the war, famine warnings have multiplied, prompting efforts to get relief into the territory by air or sea.
But UN agencies have said repeatedly that overland deliveries are the only way of supplying aid in the volume needed.
World Central Kitchen said the shipment from Cyprus contains items like rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables and proteins.
The United Arab Emirates provided a special cargo of dates, which are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the charity said.
Cyprus government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the flotilla would take roughly 65 hours to reach Gaza, where a makeshift dock has been constructed to unload humanitarian aid.
He said the Jennifer was carrying 282 pallets of foodstuffs totalling 237 tons, as well as a wheeled crane which will be used to unload the aid.
The barge ARES was carrying 109 aid packages weighing a total of 95 tons.
The support vessel Ledra Dynamic was carrying specialized support personnel who will operate the crane carried by the Jennifer, Letymbiotis added.
A first vessel, the Open Arms, reached Gaza with a barge loaded with 200 tons of food on March 15, in a trial run for the maritime aid corridor.
Bad weather in the eastern Mediterranean held up the second voyage.
Second aid ship bound for Gaza leaves Cyprus port
https://arab.news/wf4yd
Second aid ship bound for Gaza leaves Cyprus port
- Almost 400 tons of aid is being carried to Gaza on a flotilla organized by two charities — the US-based World Central Kitchen and the Spanish Open Arms
- “There is not enough aid getting through to Gaza and we need to open as many ways as possible,” Juan Camilo of World Central Kitchen said
Israel reports bird flu outbreak on farm in north, WOAH says
- The outbreak, the first in a year in Israel, was detected in a flock of 2,000 ducks in the village of Sde Yaakov
PARIS: Israel reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm in the north of the country, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday.
The outbreak, the first in a year in Israel, was detected in a flock of 2,000 ducks in the village of Sde Yaakov, causing the death of 90 birds, the Paris-based WOAH said, citing a report from the Israeli authorities. The remaining birds were subsequently culled as a precaution.
The spread of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it ravaged flocks around the world in recent years, disrupting supply, fueling higher food prices and raising the risk of human transmission.
