A cargo ship, one of three ships loaded with canned food destined to Gaza, anchored after returning to the Cypriot port of Larnaca, Cyprus, April 4, 2024. Cyprus, which had played a key role in setting up the maritime corridor, said the ships that had arrived that week were returning to the Mediterranean island nation with undelivered aid, after seven aid workers were killed on April 1.Lefteris Piterakis/The Associated Press
Aid shipments to Gaza from Cyprus resumed late on Friday, a Cypriot source said, with a ship carrying food to the besieged Palestinian enclave after a pause following Israel’s killing of seven aid workers.
The World Central Kitchen NGO paused aid to review its activity in the territory after the early April attack, halting the direct shipments into Gaza from Cyprus.
A small cargo vessel left the port of Larnaca on Friday night with aid donated by the United Arab Emirates, a Cypriot source said.
Israel’s six-month-old war against Hamas in Gaza, in response to an attack by the militant group in southern Israel, has killed more than 34,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say, and caused a humanitarian disaster for the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.
The U.S. has started construction of a floating jetty on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast that will enable aid deliveries pre-screened in Cyprus with Israeli oversight. Once that aid reaches Gaza, it will still need to pass through Israeli checkpoints on land.