UAE ships with food supplies for Gazans leave Cyprus port
ABU DHABI: Three ships and a barge finally set sail from Cyprus on Saturday following beter weather conditions, carrying hundreds of tonnes of food destined for northern Gaza.
This second shipment, which carries hundreds of tonnes, has enough food to prepare more than one million meals, and includes self stable and ready-to-eat items such as rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables, and proteins.
The historic opening of the maritime route to Gaza by sea is conducted by World Central Kitchen and Open Arms, in close partnership with the United Arab Emirates, and the support of Cyprus.
By opening this maritime aid corridor with Open Arms and Cyprus, the UAE and World Central Kitchen are able to scale humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
To date, World Central Kitchen has provided more than 43 million meals by land, air, and sea to Palestinians facing starvation.
The UAE has delivered 26,000 tonnes of urgent supplies, including food, water, and medical items, dispatched through 229 flights, 19 airdrops, 1,035 trucks, and three ships.
While this initiative is geting desperately needed food to the Palestinians, the opening of land crossings remains paramount to avert famine.
HEAVY CLASHES: Meanwhile, heavy clashes and explosions shook Gaza, witnesses said on Saturday, as the Red Crescent reported several people killed during the latest chaotic aid distribution in the territory’s north, where famine looms.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Saturday that “famine” in Gaza can be dealt with in a short time if Israel opened the land crossings for aid to enter.
Safadi made the comments at a press conference with his Egyptian and French counterparts in Cairo.
The Palestine Red Crescent said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery in Gaza’s north.
Eyewitnesses told reporters that Gazans overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Israeli troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to get the food.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 32,705 people have been killed in the territory during more than five months of war between Israel and Hamas.
9,000 PATIENTS NEED EVACUATION: Some 9,000 patients in the Gaza Strip require evacuation for emergency care, with the war-torn Palestinian territory down to just 10 barely functioning hospitals, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday.
“With only 10 hospitals minimally functional across the whole of #Gaza, thousands of patients continue to be deprived of health care,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Before the war, Gaza had 36 hospitals, according to the WHO.
“Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions,” he said.
That is up from 8,000 in the WHO’S previous assessment at the beginning of March.
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas ater the Islamist group’s unprecedented October 7 atack on Israel, and has been bombing Gaza without respite, damaging many healthcare facilities.
Violent ground combat has also been underway for weeks, sometimes around Gaza’s hospitals, which are also providing refuge for thousands who have lost their homes or fled the fighting.
TEEN SHOT DEAD: Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Saturday, an incident which the Israeli military said was under review.
There were confrontations with Israeli forces at the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin city, during a pre-dawn military raid there, the Wafa report said.
The Israeli military said a number of Palestinian gunmen had shot at its troops, who returned fire.
A report was later received regarding a Palestinian minor who was killed, the military said.
“The circumstances of the incident are under review,” it said in a statement to media.
The teen’s death was confirmed by Fawaz Hammad, director of Al Razi Hospital in Jenin, Wafa said.
LEBANON PEACEKEEPERS: The United Nations said four of its military observers were wounded Saturday when a shell exploded near them in southern Lebanon, where Israel and the Hezbollah movement trade regular cross-border fire.
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) did not identify the source of the shelling but Lebanon’s official National News Agency blamed Israel.
“This morning four UNTSO military observers on a foot patrol along the Blue Line (demarcating the border with Israel) were injured when a shell exploded near their location,” UNTSO said.
“The targeting of peacekeepers is unacceptable,” it said in a statement, adding that they were taken to hospital for treatment and an investigation launched into the origin of the explosion.