GAZA STRIP, RAMALLAH – A ship towing a barge loaded with food arrived off Gaza on Friday, witnesses said, as a test run for a new aid route by sea from Cyprus into the devastated Palestinian enclave where famine looms after five months of Israel’s military campaign.
The ship, arranged by the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity, is carrying nearly 200 tonnes of aid to be delivered via a jetty being prepared in Gaza, with a second ship expected to sail soon, according to Reuters.
There are few details on how the aid delivery and distribution will work once it is ready to unload in Gaza, with UN relief agencies having described huge obstacles to getting relief supplies to those in need.
If the new sea route is successful, it may help to ease the hunger crisis affecting Gaza, where much of the population faces malnourishment and hospitals in the worst-stricken northern areas have reported children dying of starvation.
However, bringing in aid by sea and through air drops will not be enough to make up for difficulties getting in supplies by land, aid agencies have repeatedly said.
Israel’s air and ground campaign has since killed more than 31,000 Palestinians according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, while driving most of the population from their homes and pushing the enclave towards famine.
Earlier in the week, Israel allowed six aid trucks to enter directly into the north, a step aid groups have long called for, according to AP.
World Central Kitchen operates 65 kitchens across Gaza from where it has served 32 million meals since the war started, the group said. The aid includes rice, flour, lentils, beans, tuna and canned meat, according to World Central Kitchen spokesperson Linda Roth.
It plans to distribute the food in the north, the largely devastated target of Israel’s initial offensive in Gaza, which has been mostly cut off by Israeli forces since October.
A second vessel being loaded with even more aid will head to Gaza once the aid on the first ship is offloaded and distributed, Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said. He declined to specify when the second vessel would leave, saying it depends in part on whether the Open Arms delivery goes smoothly.
In another development, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister in the face of US pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s post-war vision for Gaza.
Mohammad Mustafa, a United States-educated economist and political independent, will head a technocratic government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that could potentially administer Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. But those plans face major obstacles, including strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israel-Hamas war that is still grinding on with no end in sight.
“The change that the United States of America and the countries of the region want is not necessarily the change that the Palestinian citizen wants,” said Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst. “People want a real change in politics, not a change in names. … They want elections.”
In a statement announcing the appointment, Abbas asked Mustafa to put together plans to re-unify administration in the West Bank and Gaza, lead reforms in the government, security services and economy and fight corruption.
Washington welcomed his appointment but urged Mustafa to quickly form a Cabinet to implement changes.
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