Truce efforts revived as first sea aid unloaded for hungry Gazans
Efforts towards a truce in the IsraelHamas war appeared to rekindle yesterday after a new proposal from the Palestinian militant group which also called for more aid into Gaza, where the first food shipment by sea reached shore.
Israel said it would send a delegation to Qatar for another round of talks on a possible deal. It also advanced plans for a military operation in Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge from more than five months of war and deprivation.
The US charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) yesterday said its team had finished unloading almost 200 tonnes of food, the first shipment to arrive on a new maritime aid corridor from Cyprus.
“All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza,” WCK said in a statement.
WCK’s partner, the Open Arms vessel which towed the aid on a barge, had sailed from Larnaca port on Tuesday.
The United Nations has reported particular difficulty in accessing the besieged Gaza Strip’s north for deliveries of food and other aid.
Residents say they have resorted to eating wild plants and animal fodder, and some have stormed the few aid trucks that have made it through.
“Doctors are reporting that they no longer see normal-sized babies,” Dominic Allen, of the United Nations Population Fund, said after visiting Gaza’s north.
With the situation increasingly dire, donors have turned to the air and sea.
Multiple nations have begun daily aid airdrops over Gaza. Germany’s air force said yesterday it successfully made its first delivery over north Gaza.
The new maritime corridor is to be complemented by a temporary pier which United States troops are on their way to build.