First ship carrying food aid arrives in Gaza, ‘preparations underway’ to dispatch second

The first ship carrying 200 tons of food collected by World Central Kitchen (WCK) arrived in Gaza on Friday, the organization said. announcedmore will be added in the future.

WCK, a charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, issued a statement saying its team had dropped off aid in Gaza. The food was shipped by Spanish aid organization Open Arms and is part of WCK’s efforts to “deliver as much aid as possible to Palestinians by sea”.

The ship left Cyprus on Tuesday, and WCK said preparations had already begun to dispatch a second ship carrying “more than several hundred tonnes of aid supplies and heavy equipment to facilitate the unloading process.” Announced.

Andres shared news of the ship’s arrival in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Yay! The team at @WCKitchen and @openarms_fund are hard at work unloading all 200 tons, 12 truckloads. This was a test! To learn…we deliver thousands of tons per week. We can also carry… What we learn will make us better.” he said online.

“We want to build a highway to keep aid flowing by sea as another access point to the much-needed Gaza Strip,” said WCK CEO Erin Gore, who was recently in Cyprus. (CEO) said in a statement.

Delivery includes rice, flour, pulses, canned vegetables and protein. It was organized together with the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus, the release said.

The United States and other allies began sending aid by air to civilians in Gaza in early March. President Biden announced that the US military will build a temporary port on the Gaza coast to increase aid shipments by sea. Still, construction of the floating pier is expected to take up to two months.

WCK’s voyage from Cyprus to Gaza was approximately 320 miles across the Mediterranean Sea

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has reported that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7. According to the United Nations, a quarter of the region’s population is hungry.

The aid deliveries come as the United States and other countries continue to negotiate a temporary ceasefire with Israel and Hamas, but no agreement has yet been reached.