Transfer of Gaza aid from Cyprus resumes

The United Nations has resumed the transfer of humanitarian aid arriving by sea at the temporary jetty off the coast of Gaza, it emerged on Friday.

Deliveries had been halted after crowds of people mobbed aid lorries leaving the jetty and one man was reportedly killed, but World Food Programme spokeswoman Abeer Etefa confirmed that after the pause, lorries had made their way off the jetty and into Gaza every day since they resumed on Tuesday.

She told the Cyprus Mail that at present, aid which arrives from Cyprus at the jetty is taken to a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, which is halfway down the Gaza strip, for further distribution in the southern half of the strip.

While concerns had been raised that the north of Gaza is at the most acute risk of famine and that deliveries to the south of the strip may do nothing to alleviate that problem, Etefa was quick to offer assurances that at present, aid is being delivered to the north by land.

“Aid is travelling into the north of Gaza through the Erez crossing. This is only happening in limited quantities, but while aid is arriving via land in the north, we are distributing the aid arriving on the jetty southwards,” she said.

In addition, she also disputed Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder’s claim that no humanitarian aid delivered to the jetty has yet reached the Palestinian civilian population.

“Aid has been distributed in recent days. It has come in off the jetty, been taken to our warehouses, and then passed on to Palestinian civilians,” she said.

She added that given the circumstances, it is impossible to determine the quantity of aid distributed to civilians, but that aid has been delivered and continues.

Meanwhile, the American container ship the Sagamore and the roll-on/roll-off United States army ship the USAV Major General Charles P Gross, both of which have travelled from Larnaca in recent days, are now stationary off the coast of Gaza, according to maritime tracking companies.

On the jetty itself, questions of safety may yet arrive after it was revealed on Thursday night that one US soldier is in a critical condition in an Israeli hospital after suffering a “non-combat injury” on a ship located off the jetty.

The Cypriot government had pledged to carry on regardless with its efforts to collect humanitarian aid and send it onwards to Gaza despite the difficulties faced earlier this week.

Foreign ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday operations were continuing as usual at the Larnaca port and added that Cyprus’ position is to continue sending humanitarian aid towards Gaza until the facts change.