The cargo of the first humanitarian aid boat, which arrived in the Gaza Strip from Cyprus on Friday, was unloaded on Saturday March 16 and will be able to be distributed to the population, threatened with famine after more than five months of war, announced on Saturday the Spanish non-governmental organization (NGO) World Central Kitchen (WCK), responsible for the operation.
“The entire cargo has been unloaded and is being prepared for distribution to Gaza,” WCK said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Spanish-American chef José Andrés, founder of WCK, welcomed the success of the operation in a message published on X. ” We have succeeded ! (…) It was a test! To learn. We can bring thousands of tons (of aid) every week,” he assured.
According to the position history of the boat of the Spanish NGO Open Arms, chartered for the operation, the unloading took place south of Gaza City, using a barge. According to Israeli army photos, this barge approached a pier built for the occasion, and, according to videos broadcast by WCK, this unloading took place at night.
Catastrophic humanitarian situation
This cargo, almost 200 tonnes of food according to WCK, was transported by the Open Arms boat which left on Tuesday from the Cypriot port of Larnaca. This aid should be used to prepare meals for residents of the northern Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian situation is particularly catastrophic.
The Israeli army said on Friday that it had subjected the boat to “a complete security check” and had deployed troops “to secure the area” where the cargo was unloaded.
This boat was the first to use a maritime corridor opened from Cyprus, the European Union country closest to the Gaza Strip, due to the humanitarian emergency and the insufficient aid arriving by ground route. The international community and NGOs, however, emphasize that this maritime corridor and aid airdrops cannot replace land routes.
World Central Kitchen, of which the United Arab Emirates is the partner, is currently loading a second ship in Larnaca. The date of his departure for Gaza has not been communicated.
