2024-03-13 23:00:12
Hassan Al-Warfalli (Gaza, Cairo)
An aid convoy carrying food supplies arrived in the besieged northern Gaza Strip via a new military road. This came as a second ship loaded with humanitarian aid allocated to the Strip was waiting in the port of Larnaca, to sail after the first batch was unloaded in the Palestinian Strip. Six trucks carrying aid from the United Nations World Food Program entered the northern Gaza Strip through the so-called “Gate 96” as part of a pilot plan, according to the Israeli army.
Trucks were previously subject to inspection at the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Earlier, the World Food Program said that it had delivered enough food for 25,000 people in Gaza City in its first successful convoy to the northern Strip since February 20.
The program added in a post on the “X” website: “With people in northern Gaza on the brink of starvation, we need shipments every day and we need direct entry points into the north.” The gravel road used by the convoy, in accordance with Israeli government instructions, divides the coastal strip south of Gaza City along an east-west corridor that has been occupied by Israeli forces since the start of the war more than 5 months ago.
In this context, a second ship loaded with humanitarian aid allocated to Gaza is waiting in the port of Larnaca, and will sail after the first batch is unloaded in the Strip, according to what Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Koumpos announced.
Kompos told reporters in Nicosia yesterday: “In the current situation, we are working through a non-governmental organization, and we are already following up with a commercial ship with a larger capacity that can leave Cyprus after unloading the first cargo if there are no problems.”
Combos added that the unspecified state-owned ship has been anchored in Larnaca since Saturday, noting that “the ship and the cargo are being inspected by the authorities,” without specifying the amount of aid it is carrying.
Yesterday, a ship belonging to the Spanish non-governmental organization “Open Arms” set off, carrying 200 tons of food on a journey extending approximately 400 km from Cyprus to Gaza.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense, the Pentagon, stated that the temporary seaport that US President Joe Biden announced the establishment of on the Gaza coast will be ready to operate at full capacity within 60 days, with the aim of facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a press conference: “Four US Army ships loaded with equipment moved to the eastern Mediterranean to begin construction of the naval pier, which will be allocated to supply civilians in Gaza with relief materials and basic needs.”
Ryder added, “The temporary port will facilitate the delivery of about two million meals to the Palestinians daily across the sea,” explaining that these operations will complement the humanitarian efforts provided by the United States to the Palestinians in Gaza.
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