Larnaca, Cyprus
Reuters
A sea convoy of undelivered food for Gaza returned to Cyprus on Wednesday after aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday evening.
A cargo ship carrying 240 metric tons of food that had been destined for the people of the beseiged Palestinian enclave sailed back to Larnaca in Cyprus following the deadly attack, dropping anchor just outside the port.
The Open Arms, a rescue vessel owned by a Spanish NGO arrives at the port of Larnaca after pausing the mission of delivering humanitarian aid for Gaza, following the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 3rd April, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Yiannis Kourtoglou
A second ship, the Open Arms owned by a Spanish NGO working with WCK, arrived earlier.
The undelivered aid was part of a consignment of about 340 tons sent to Gaza from Cyprus on 30th March. The aid workers killed in Gaza had just finished unloading 100 tons from a barge, also sent from Cyprus.
WCK, active in Gaza since October, has paused operations in the territory since the killings, and turned around its flotilla of ships back to Cyprus.
In March WCK launched an inaugural sea corridor transporting aid to the enclave from the east Mediterranean island.
Cyprus has offered to supplement aid getting in to Gaza by sea with a fast track on-island security screening process for aid overseen by Israel.
Spanish charity Open Arms, which provided a salvage vessel for both missions arranged by WCK, took a group photo of activists wearing WCK t-shirts and embracing each other on the bow of the salvage ship during its sail to Cyprus.
They wrote on X: “The end of mission 110 arrives, the one we never could have imagined, the most painful.
“We miss Saifeddin, Zomi, Damian, Jacob, John, Jim, and James, but they will remain forever in our memory, and we will continue to speak up for them, for the more than 32,500 people killed in #Gaza, the hundreds of humanitarian workers, the destroyed hospitals, journalists and all the ‘isolated cases’ that are not an accident, but part of an structure of death and destruction. We will never forget you.
“Today, the pain of the @wckitchen family is also ours.”
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday.
He said the suspension started on Tuesday. The World Food Programme is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza “where people are dying,” Dujarric said.
“As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike on Monday, prompting condemnations and calls for explanations from the United States and other allies.
The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza.
The UN has repeatedly called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long war between Israel and Hamas. Israel is retaliating against Hamas in Gaza over a deadly 7th October attack on Israel by the Palestinian militants.
