200 tonnes of aid is headed to Gaza by sea with no port to unload it

A ship carrying 200 tonnes of aid for Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday as part of a pilot project to deliver supplies to a population that aid agencies say is on the verge of famine.

However, though they welcomed the project, senior UN officialssaidit could notreplacethe delivery of humanitarianaidby land from Egypt and Jordan. Separately, the World Food Programme (WFP) saidon Tuesday it had managed to get the firstaidconvoy intoGazaCity in the north of theGazaStrip since Feb. 20.

The charity ship Open Arms was seen sailing out of Larnaca port, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein. The mission was funded mostly by the United Arab Emirates and organized by U.S.-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK).

The voyage toGazatakes about 15 hours, and a heavy tow barge could considerably lengthen the trip, possibly by up to two days. Cyprus, the European Union state closest to the site of the Israel-Hamaswar, is just over 200 miles (320 kilometres) northwest ofGaza.

The U.S. military saidone ofits vessels, the General Frank S. Besson, was also en route to provide humanitarian relief toGazaby sea.Separately, it saidit airdroppedaidinto northernGazaon Tuesday along with Jordan's airforce.

Withaidagencies saying deliveries intoGazaby land have been held up by bureaucratic obstacles and security concerns since the start of thewar, attention has shifted towardalternative routes including sea and airdrops.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari saidon Tuesday that negotiators seeking a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which controlsGaza, were not close to a deal.

Jetty under construction

Given the lack of port infrastructure inGaza, WCK saidit was building a landing jetty with material from destroyed buildings and rubble, an initiative separate to a planannouncedby U.S. President Joe Biden last week to build a temporary pier.

Construction of the jetty is "well underway," WCK founder Jose Andres saidin a post on X, formerly Twitter,accompanied by a picture of bulldozers apparently levelling out ground close to the sea.

• Do you have questions about the U.S. plan to provide aid for Gaza? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.

WCKactivation manager Juan Camilo Jimenez told Reuters a second vessel would depart from Cyprus within the next few days.

Aidagencies say such efforts can provide only limited relief as long as most land crossings to the coastal Palestinian enclave are completely sealed off by Israel.

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SomeGazans also struck a skeptical note aboutaiddeliveries by sea, worrying it could become an alternative to overland shipments.

"I am not a political analyst, but I think [the jetty idea]has political objectives which are not known to us, as Palestinian citizens," saidJehad Assad, a displaced Palestinian from Khan Younis in centralGaza.

"I think the land crossings are enough foraidto enter theGazaStrip."

Israel says it is not to blame forGaza's hunger, as it is allowingaidthrough two crossings at the southern edge of the territory.Aidagencies say that is not enough to get sufficient supplies through, particularly to the northern part of the enclave that iseffectively cut off.

Commenting on Tuesday'saiddelivery to the north of theGazaStrip, WFP spokesperson Shaza Moghraby said,"We were finally able to deliver enough food for 25,000 people toGazaCity in the early hours of this morning. This ... proves that moving food by road is possible."

Gaza's health ministry said27 Palestinians have died of dehydration and malnutrition in the last two weeks, after two people died on Tuesday.

The UNestimates a quarter of the2.3-millionpopulation in the regionis now atrisk of starvation.

"We are being starved in two ways: food is scarce, and the little that is available is so expensive as to be beyond imagination," saidYamen, a father of four, whose family took shelter in Deir Al-Balah in centralGaza.

The war has displaced most ofGaza's population, and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents ataiddistributions as desperately hungry people scramble for food.

On Tuesday, Palestinian health officials reported that nine Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli gunfire as crowds awaitedaidtrucks on Kuwait Square inGazaCity. There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.

Ceasefire talks continue

The war erupted after around1,200 people were killed in the lightning Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The group took 253 hostages back toGaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least31,184 Palestiniansand injured 72,889, according toGazaauthorities.

Israel says it is interested only in a temporary truce to free the hostages. Hamas says it will let them go only as part of a deal to permanently end the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday that Israel wouldpressits military campaign into Rafah at the southern end ofGaza, where 1.5 million people have sought shelter.

"We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm's way," he saidin a video address to a conference of the pro-Israel AIPAC organization in Washington. He did not say where the civilians might go.

Cautioning Israel against any such move, U.S. national security advserJakeSullivansaidBiden believed the path to peace in the region "does not lie in smashing into Rafah... in the absence of a credible plan to deal with the population there."