A barge loaded with food destined for Gaza has left Cyprus after World Central Kitchen organized a second shipment of humanitarian aid to feed starving Gazans. Photo courtesy of World Central Kitchen/X
March 30 (UPI) — The World Central Kitchen loaded four ships from Cyprus with food to help feed civilians in the Gaza Strip.
WCK announced Friday that it is “transporting non-perishable and ready-to-eat items such as rice, pasta, flour, pulses, canned vegetables and protein.”
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“A special dispatch will also be made with the dates provided by the United Arab Emirates to provide reassurance to Palestinians observing Ramadan during the darkest imaginable time,” WCK officials said. “Dates are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast.”
This food supply will be enough to provide more than 1 million meals to those suffering from hunger and will be in addition to the more than 43 million meals already sent to Gaza by boat, plane and truck.
This small flotilla included three ships and a barge with 400 tons of cargo and was intended to feed the people of northern Gaza. Hamas and Israel have made it extremely difficult to obtain humanitarian aid.
After Gaza's port was destroyed in the war, a makeshift pier allowed supplies to arrive by sea.
Earlier this month, the United States began construction of a floating pier to allow more humanitarian aid to arrive by sea, but it is expected to take several weeks to complete.
WCK's first cargo carried 200 tons of food to Gaza and arrived on March 15th.
The Palestinian Authority says more than 32,700 Gazans have been killed, but the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy says that figure is “completely unreliable.”
President Joe Biden similarly said in October that he had “no confidence in the numbers that the Palestinians are using,” the Guardian reported.
Israel declares war on Hamas after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 200, nearly 100 of whom remain in Gaza. did.
In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop any acts of genocide that may have been committed and to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians in the Gaza Strip.
