A Spanish ship set sail for Gaza from Lanarca in Cyprus on Tuesday, allegedly carrying 200 tons of food supplies for Gaza civilians.
Upon its arrival, the “Open Arms” vessel was expected to dock at a new jetty being built by the US-based “World Central Kitchen” organization. The Open Arms is a salvage vessel belonging to a Spanish charity of the same name.
WCK-provided aid has set sail for Gaza on the @openarms_fund boat. We dispatched almost 200 tons of food—rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies & proteins. Alongside the @UAEAid & @CyprusMFA, our Relief Team is working to send as many aid boats as possible.#ChefsForThePeople pic.twitter.com/oypXF8WbDH
— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) March 12, 2024
“Once there, we will distribute the food to communities on the brink of famine,” the organization said in a statement on the WCK website.
Hamas Warns Gazans Not to Help Distribute Humanitarian Aid, ‘Or Else’
It’s not yet clear how all that aid will be distributed within Gaza. Local civilians have been warned by their Hamas terrorist masters not to help in the effort to deliver the badly-needed supplies to fellow residents, on pain of retribution “with an iron hand.”
NO LIMIT to the Amount of Aid That Can Be Delivered
According to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the government liaison agency with Gazans and Palestinian Authority citizens, 207 humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza on Tuesday (March 12). Of those, 66 percent carried food and the rest were filled with medical supplies, water and shelter equipment.
“There is NO LIMIT to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and across of Gaza,” COGAT emphasized.
On Sunday (March 10), 225 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip, including 146 trucks via the Kerem Shalom crossing and 79 via the Nitzana-Rafah crossing; all but four were distributed by international aid organizations inside Gaza that same day.
In addition, four tankers of cooking gas and three tankers of fuel designated for the operation of essential infrastructure in Gaza entered the Gaza Strip as well on Sunday, as did 146 packages that were airdropped by Egypt, UAE, Jordan, Belgium, France and USA.
Over the last two weeks, more than 150 trucks of aid were transferred to the northern Gaza Strip, all by the private sector, COGAT reported.
Since the start of the war, and in cooperation with the USA, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Holland, Belgium and France, 30 airdrops have taken place, in which more than 1,250 packages of humanitarian aid were dropped into Gaza, most of them to the northern sector.
Millions of Pitas and Fresh Loaves of Bread DAILY
Twenty bakeries are working full-time in Gaza, producing more than two million loaves of bread, rolls and pita bread every day, according to COGAT. In addition, the United Arab Emirates has provided five automated bakeries that are working around the clock. The UAE government is paying the workers and their supervisors who operate the bakery.
February 2024 News: The UAE provided Five automated bakeries to Gazans. Each one makes approx 17,500 loaves per hour. They also provide flour, diesel & other support to ensure they operate 24 hours a day AND pay the people who operate and supervise them. pic.twitter.com/ffdiFDE4Sg
— Truth, Words & People Matter (@TruthWordPeople) March 6, 2024
In the streets of the cities in southern Gaza, vendors are churning out the special sweets that are traditional for the evening repast that follows each day of fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan which began Monday.
So with all of the above, it’s a stretch to say that most Gazans are on the “brink of famine” even though there definitely still are shortages thanks to their Hamas terrorist masters.
According to the “Imshin” account on Telegram and on the X social platform, which reposts TikTok and other videos posted to social media by local Gazans, despite all the aid entering the enclave, little of it is reaching the average civilian.
“I believe Hamas families are far more likely to get coupons for aid parcels. I’ve heard Gazans say they haven’t even had one aid coupon, while others obviously get loads of them. I’ve even heard of people selling their spare coupons,” Imshin reported in a post on Wednesday (March 13).
More Food Also Provided by World Central Kitchen
“Since our response to the conflict in the Middle East first began in October (2023), World Central Kitchen, alongside our partners, has provided more than 11.5 million meals in the region in the form of freshly prepared, hot meals and food kits,” WCK said.
The US-based charity has a network of at least 60 kitchens across Gaza, and has provided more than 35 million freshly prepared hot meals and food kits to Gazans who have been displaced by the war launched against Israel on October 7, 2023 by Gaza’s Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization.
Surging Aid to Gaza from Cyprus via Maritime Corridor
“Alongside our partners in Gaza, we are constructing a jetty we will use to offload the aid before loading it onto trucks that will deliver the food. Our team has another 500 tons of aid in Cyprus ready to be loaded on future boats.”
According to a report earlier this week by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “Palestinians working for WCK” are building the jetty at an “undisclosed location on Gaza’s coast” to be used to offload the aid.
One has to wonder why Hamas has not yet attacked those involved in building the jetty, given the threat against locals who help distribute aid in the enclave, issued by the terror organization earlier this week.
Last week, the US Army was also ordered by President Joe Biden to build a “temporary pier” for use in transferring aid to Gaza via the maritime aid corridor from Cyprus, a project that has been under discussion with Israel since last December.
Expected to involve 1,000 US Army soldiers, the project is expected to take at least two months to complete. The vessel carrying all the equipment and personnel for the project is, however, already on its way.
Israeli Involvement in Building a New Jetty?
It’s not clear whether Israel has been at all involved in this first use of the maritime aid corridor.
It’s also not clear whether Israel was even aware of the project; nor is it clear whether Israel has been involved in building the jetty — or was even informed about the construction.
JewishPress.com has reached out repeatedly to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the government’s liaison with residents in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority, for clarity on these question. Up to this point there has been no response.
