Food aid for Gaza: Meeting in Nicosia on March 21st

A U.S.-based charity said a consignment of almost 200 tons of food aid had reached the northern part of Gaza on Tuesday, a week after being despatched via a maritime route from the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

World Central Kitchen (WCK), working with the United Arab Emirates and Spanish charity Open Arms, sent the food via the 200-mile (322-km) sea route from Larnaca to a makeshift jetty off Gaza. The consignment arrived off Gaza on Friday.

A convoy of eight trucks belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) then ferried the aid - the equivalent of half a million meals - to its final destination on Tuesday.

A second vessel is now moored at Larnaca with 240 tons of food onboard, waiting to travel pending weather conditions, WCK and Cypriot government officials said.

"WCK is ready to send tonnes of food weekly to Gaza with support from the international community," WCK said in a statement.

Cyprus, which backed the WCK initiative, aims to coordinate more aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave. It will host officials from a number of countries on March 21 for talks on the issue, government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.

"There will be an exchange of views on what material support states could offer .. The extent of humanitarian assistance non-combatants have in Gaza requires the support of many countries," he told journalists.