'Open Arms' charity vessel carrying 200 tons of food arrives on Gaza coast
March 15 (UPI) -- A charity mission to sail 200 tons of food aid arrived off the coast of Gaza on Friday, in the first delivery through an international maritime corridor meant to combat starvation amid the war with Israel.
World Central Kitchen, the U.S. nonprofit that provided the food said it was unloading the aid after arriving.
"This is our international effort to bring as much aid as possible to Palestinians by sea," the organization said.
WCK's founder, celebrity chef Jose Andres, said two crates of aid had already been delivered.
The 120-foot Opens Arms belonging to the Spanish migrant search-and-rescue charity of the same name had been seen off the coast of the enclave Friday.
The vessel set sail on Tuesday with supplies donated by WCK via a new Cyprus-Gaza sea corridor set up by the international community to ship aid into the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the delivery was being conducted "in coordination with Israeli security and civilian authorities, in accordance with the directive of the government of Israel and at the request of the U.S. government."
WCK announced Friday in a post on X that it had begun prepping another ship with hundreds of tons of food bound for Gaza.
"The boat will be the second to set sail as part of the maritime corridor we've opened alongside international partners so Palestinians get as much support as possible," the organization said.
However, the NGO did not provide an update on the pier, which is being built from rubble of destroyed buildings and infrastructure.
The sea aid missions come as the United Nations warned of mass starvation in Gaza, particularly in the north, where Israeli bombardment has flattened residential neighborhoods and destroyed critical infrastructure.
More than one-fourth of Gaza's 2.2 million residents were one step away from "catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation," officials said.
"If we do not exponentially increase the size of aid going into northern areas, famine is imminent," said U.N. World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain.
At least 27 children and babies have died of malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Five U.S. Army support ships are en route to the Eastern Mediterranean tasked with building a temporary port off the Gaza coast to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid by sea, as promised by U.S. President Joe Biden in his State of the Union speech last week.
The General Frank S. Besson set sail from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., on Saturday with U.S. Army rapid deployment forces aboard and equipment and materiel to begin work on the project.
That deployment was followed Tuesday by the sailing of James A. Loux, Monterrey, Matamoros and Wilson Wharf carrying troops from the 7th Transportation (Expeditionary) Brigade, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command and XVIII Airborne Corps with orders "to establish a roll-on, roll-off dock capability that allows ship-to-shore humanitarian assistance to Gaza."
The ships are not expected to arrive in the region for at least another two weeks with the facility likely to be operational two to three weeks after work gets underway.
On Friday, Britain, the European Union, United Arab Emirates and United States pledged to work together to establish a dedicated Gaza maritime corridor out of Cyprus to funnel aid in to the temporary port by ship.
