Israel Prepares for Arrival of First Humanitarian Aid by Sea

Jerusalem, 14 March, 2024 (TPS) -- The Israel Defense Forces prepared for the first arrival of humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip by sea on Thursday.

Open Arms, a Spanish-flagged ship, is  carrying 200 tons of food from the World Central Kitchen, a US-based non-profit organization and funded by the United Arab Emirates. It set sail from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus towards Gaza.

The food will be offloaded at a jetty being built by World Central Kitchen at an undisclosed Gaza location when the ship arrives on Thursday.

Cypriot authorities said that a second, larger ship carrying aid will leave Larnaca when the Open Arms completes its mission.

The delivery is being coordinated with Israeli authorities at the request of the US.  Israeli officials gave the Open Arms a security check before it left Cyprus.

In addition, a pilot program to deliver aid by land began on Tuesday as six trucks from the World Food Programme entered the northern Gaza Strip. The program is intended to bypass Hamas, which has been hijacking aid trucks.

As The Press Service of Israel reported on Wednesday, Israel reversed its opposition to Palestinian Authority involvement in aid distribution and governing Gaza after the war. High-ranking Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed that Israel is holding talks with the PA about accepting responsibility for delivering aid and checking in on its readiness to administer Gaza after the war.

More than 1,000 aid packages have been airdropped into the Gaza Strip in over 12 airdrops by foreign countries during the last week.

At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.