The departure of the first aid from the sea corridor to Gaza is delayed

Brussels – The 200 tons of food to be shipped as quickly as possible to Gaza, for now, is  stuck at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus. The opening of the Cypriot sea corridor, announced Friday, March 8 with the visit to the island of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is jammed even before it becomes a reality. The ship of the Open Arms NGO remains docked “due to some technical considerations,” diplomatic sources specify. But the new departure would be “expected within a few hours.”

In the “next few hours” is the formula used yesterday by the Nicosia government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis to tell the national news agency (CNA) of an initial expansion of the planned timeline. He added that he would not make public the exact timing for security reasons. The Cypriot government spokesman also stated that “the ship was checked, as requested, by the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus following all the protocols stipulated in the planning,” in official coordination with Tel Aviv and the presence of Israeli representatives.

According to the CNA,  the slowdown was because “the platform in Gaza that will receive the humanitarian aid towed by the ship is not yet ready.” European Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said that “there are different ways in which a ship can be unloaded,” depending on “size, cargo, weather, and security conditions.” He confirmed that “there is a plan to unload aid” regardless of the U.S. initiative to build a temporary dock. The floating port “will help to unload heavier cargo once it is operational,” Mamer said. In Washington, they predict not before six weeks.

Open Arms sources told the Spanish Agency EFE that a breakwater in the arrival area was planned to unload the nearly 200 tons of flour, rice, and canned food directly onto Gaza’s beaches. At that point, distribution would pass through the hands of international partners on the ground: U.N. agencies such as UNRWA, the World Food Programme, WHO, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.