A second shipment of aid carrying almost 400 tons of food for Gaza left Cyprus's Larnaca port on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.
The Open Arms, a rescue vessel owned by a Spanish NGO, departs with humanitarian aid for Gaza from Larnaca, March 30, 2024. Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A second shipment of aid carrying almost 400 tons of food for Gaza left Cyprus's Larnaca port on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.
The aid will be taken to Gaza by a cargo ship and a platform towed by a salvage vessel.
It will be the second dispatch of aid via Cyprus, where Cypriot authorities have established, in cooperation with Israel, a maritime corridor to facilitate pre-screened cargoes arriving directly in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) arranged the mission with Spain's Open Arms charity, with financing mainly from the UAE and support from Cypriot authorities.
On its first mission earlier in March, it built a makeshift jetty from rubble to enable offloading almost 200 tons of food in the enclave, which does not have any port facilities. Saturday's dispatch includes two forklifts and a crane to assist with future marine deliveries.
Separately, the United States plans to construct a floating pier off Gaza to receive aid. The target date for completion is May 1, but it could be ready by around April 15, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said late on Friday.
Reporting by Yiannis Kourtoglou
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his U.S. counterpart that military operations in the Gaza Strip have created conditions that would enable a hostage deal to be reached, Gallant's office said on Wednesday.
A meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Middle East was briefly interrupted on Wednesday when two protesters stood with signs and yelled for the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that its mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza was complete, formally ending an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
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