The Israeli army confirmed this Friday the arrival of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which includes 115 tons of food and water delivered along the first route of the humanitarian sea corridor to the Palestinian enclave.
“The ship contained 130 pallets of humanitarian equipment, 115 tons of food and water, which were loaded into 12 WCK (Worldwide Central Kitchen Organization) trucks, which will distribute them throughout the northern Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) emphasized ), in the statement.
The IDF, which has deployed naval and ground forces to provide security in the area, stressed that the operation “is part of a broader humanitarian effort in the Gaza Strip led by the UAE and carried out in coordination with Israel.”
“The vessels and goods have undergone comprehensive security checks. The coordinated delivery of humanitarian aid was carried out in accordance with an agreement with a civilian company. It is important to emphasize that the delivery of humanitarian aid does not affect the naval blockade,” he further emphasized in the same source.
After three days of sailing from Cyprus, the Open Arms ship arrived this Friday on the shores of Gaza, making its first voyage along the humanitarian maritime corridor promoted by the European Union (EU) to relieve hunger. in the Palestinian enclave in the face of scant aid coming after more than five months of war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas.
The Spanish ship is carrying tons of flour, rice, lentils, chickpeas, tuna and other staples that will be processed into a million meals for the enclave’s residents.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) said it was unloading “much-needed food” after humanitarian groups and the UN warned days ago that neither sea nor air aid could replace food delivered by land.
A second shipment of 400 tons of food stored at the Cypriot port of Larnaca is expected to arrive in the coming days, Juan Camilo Jimenez, WCK’s response director, told Spanish news agency Efe on Thursday.
Israel and Hamas have been at war since October 7, 2023, when militants from the Palestinian Islamist group carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240.
In response, Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed an estimated 31,500 people, according to the Hamas government.
Due to the Gaza War, 85% of Gaza’s population was forced to flee their homes, and 60% of the infrastructure, according to the UN, was damaged or completely destroyed.
Much of the population suffers from hunger and at least 27 people, most of them children, have died in the north of the enclave alone due to acute malnutrition, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas, which is in power in Gaza. enclave since 2007.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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