Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
17-03-2024
GAZA CITY: The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza has been unloaded on to the shore.
The US charity behind the mission, World Central Kitchen, is carrying out the mission in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates.
The shipment contained 200 tonnes of food desperately needed for Gaza, which the UN says is on the brink of famine.
Aid agencies have accused Israel of impeding aid deliveries, a charge vehemently denied by Israeli officials.
They say Israel is allowing aid through two crossings in the south and has blamed aid agencies of logistical failures.
Much of the Gaza Strip has been devastated during the Israeli military operations that began after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages.
More than 31,400 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
Saturday’s shipment arrived on board Spanish charity ship Open Arms. Its cargo includes beans, carrots, canned tuna, chickpeas, canned corn, parboiled rice, flour, oil, salt and pallets of dates, which hold spiritual significance during Ramadan.
It had been checked by Israeli officials in port in Cyprus.
It marks the start of a trial to see if the sea route would be more effective than air and land deliveries.
Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that no method of relief is as effective as delivery by land, but they say Israeli restrictions mean a fraction of what is needed is getting in.
In a statement, World Central Kitchen (WCK), said: “All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza.”
Teams worked through the night to get the aid on to dry land.
Gaza has no functioning port, so a jetty stemming from the shoreline was built by WCK’s team.
However, there are few details on how the aid distribution will work, with UN relief agencies having described huge obstacles to getting relief supplies to those in need.
Earlier, WCK’s founder, celebrity chef José Andrés, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that all the food aid from the barge had been loaded into 12 Lorries.
“We did it!” he wrote, adding that this was a test to see if they could bring even more aid in the next shipment – up to “thousands of tons a week”.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had been deployed to secure the shoreline. (Int’l News Desk)
