Food aid ship from Cyprus aims to stop famine in Gaza

A Panamanian-flagged cargo ship carrying 1,200 tons of food aid departed from Cyprus and approached Israel’s port of Ashdod, in a renewed international effort to ease Gaza’s spiralling humanitarian crisis, as reported by Asharq Al-Awsat via AP on August 19th.

The vessel, loaded with 52 containers of pasta, rice, canned goods, and baby food, was screened by Israeli officials in Limassol before setting sail. Roughly 700 tons of the shipment was purchased by Cyprus using funds donated by the United Arab Emirates to the Amalthea Fund, while the remainder came from Italy, Malta and Kuwait’s Al Salam Association.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos described the situation in Gaza as “beyond dire.”

According to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), one in five children in Gaza city are malnourished. In a statement released on July 24th, the agency’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said, “people in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”

Cyprus has previously served as a lifeline, coordinating maritime aid deliveries that moved 22,000 tons of supplies directly to Gaza. However, that operation collapsed last year after logistical and security challenges weakened its effectiveness.

This new mission, led by the United Nations and supported by the international charity World Central Kitchen, aims to restore confidence in shipborne deliveries. Once unloaded in Ashdod, the aid will be brought into Gaza and distributed through food stations overseen by humanitarian groups.

This relief mission aims to offer a lifeline to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, as according to UNRWA, at least 66, 000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition as a result of the Israeli blockade on food and humanitarian assistance.

This comes after the newly accepted ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Asharq Al-Awsat via AP, Maghrebi.org