A vessel carrying aid to a pier built by the U.S. off Gaza set sail from Cyprus on Thursday, marine tracking websites showed.
A person is seen on board as a U.S. flagged cargo vessel carrying aid to a pier built by the U.S. off Gaza sets sail from Larnaca, Cyprus May 9, 2024. Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A vessel carrying aid to a pier built by the U.S. off Gaza set sail from Cyprus on Thursday, marine tracking websites showed.
The U.S. flagged Sagamore left the port of Larnaca on Thursday morning. U.S. officials have said the vessel will be used to offload supplies onto a floating pier built to expedite aid into the besieged enclave.
There was no immediate comment from Cypriot authorities, which had earlier said the ship would sail as soon as the floating platform was in place, subject to weather conditions.
Israel's military campaign against Hamas, in response to Hamas's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, has devastated the tiny Gaza Strip, where aid agencies warn its 2.3 million people are facing imminent famine.
Cyprus opened a sea corridor in March to ship aid directly to Gaza, where deliveries via land have been severely disrupted by border closures and Israel's military operations.
U.S.-based charity World Food Kitchen used the route twice before seven of its workers were killed in an Israeli air strike on April 1.
Reporting by Michele Kambas and 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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