WRAPUP 5-First Gaza aid ship leaves Cyprus as Palestinians on brink of famine

Aid agencies say that is not enough to get sufficient supplies through, particularly to the northern part of the pulverised enclave that is effectively cut off. The World Food Programme said on Tuesday it had managed to get an aid convoy to Gaza City in the first successful convoy to the north since Feb. 20.

A ship carrying 200 tonnes of aid for Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday in a pilot project to open a sea route to deliver supplies to a population aid agencies say is on the brink of famine. The charity ship Open Arms was seen sailing out of Larnaca port, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein. The mission was funded mostly by the United Arab Emirates and organised by U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK).

The journey to Gaza takes about 15 hours but a heavy tow barge could make the trip take considerably longer, possibly up to two days. Cyprus is just over 200 miles (320 km) north-west of Gaza. The U.S. military said its vessel, the General Frank S. Besson, was also en route to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza by sea.

With aid agencies saying deliveries into Gaza have been held up by bureaucratic obstacles and insecurity since the start of the war on Oct. 7, and even Israel's allies demanding easier aid access to the enclave, attention has shifted towards alternative routes including sea and air drops. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday that negotiators seeking a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, were not close to a deal.

Washington had said for weeks that it hoped for a truce deal in time for the Ramadan Muslim holy month that began this week, but it has so far failed to materialise. Tuesday's sea supply mission was the culmination of months of preparation by Cyprus, the EU member state closest to the conflict. It is keeping a wary eye on spillover effects from upheaval in the Middle East and is already seeing migratory inflows from Lebanon increasing. More than 400 people arrived in fishing boats on Monday.

With the lack of port infrastructure in Gaza, WCK said it was building a landing jetty with material from destroyed buildings and rubble, a separate initiative to a plan announced by U.S. President Joe Biden last week to build a temporary pier. Construction of the jetty was "well underway", WCK founder Jose Andres said in a post on X, posting a picture of bulldozers apparently levelling out ground close to the sea.

WCK Activation Manager Juan Camilo Jimenez told Reuters a second vessel would depart within the next few days. "Part of our calculation is the port will be ready when we arrive there and more importantly we have a team there to support the distribution of this aid," he said, referring to a WCK team that has been on the ground in Gaza for several months.

LAND CROSSINGS STILL VITAL The U.N. humanitarian office welcomed efforts to provide aid by sea and air, but said it would not be enough. Aid agencies say such efforts can provide only limited relief as long as most land crossings are completely sealed off by Israel.

"It's not a substitute for the overland transport of food and other emergency aid into Gaza," said spokesperson Jens Laerke. "It cannot make up for that." Israel says it is not to blame for Gaza's hunger, as it is allowing aid through two crossings at the southern edge of the territory. Aid agencies say that is not enough to get sufficient supplies through, particularly to the northern part of the pulverised enclave that is effectively cut off.

The World Food Programme said on Tuesday it had managed to get an aid convoy to Gaza City in the first successful convoy to the north since Feb. 20. "We were finally able to deliver enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City in the early hours of this morning. This... proves that moving food by road is possible," spokesperson Shaza Moghraby said.

"We are hoping to scale up. We need access to be regular and consistent...," she said. The U.N. estimates a quarter of the population in Gaza is now at risk of starvation.

"We are being starved in two ways: food is scarce, and the little that is available is so expensive as to be beyond imagination," said Yamen, a father of four, whose family took shelter in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The conflict has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million people and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents at aid distributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.

GUNFIRE On Tuesday, Palestinian health officials reported that nine Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire as crowds awaited aid trucks on Kuwait Square in Gaza City. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.

"Bombing gatherings of hungry people has become a daily routine practiced by the occupation and seen by the international community on screens," said Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry. "Hunger will claim the lives of all residents in northern Gaza. Aid is very scarce."

Fighters from Hamas, which administers Gaza, killed 1,200 people in an Oct. 7 attack on Israel and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 31,184 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and injured 72,889.

Ceasefire talks have so far failed to reach a breakthrough, with Israel saying it is interested only in a temporary truce to free hostages, and Hamas saying it will let them go only as part of a deal to permanently end the war. Qatar, mediator alongside Egypt and the United States, said on Tuesday it was working to establish a permanent ceasefire, rather than a short-term truce.

"We are not near to a Gaza ceasefire deal but remain hopeful," Qatar's Al-Ansari told a press conference in Doha.

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