Cyprus Hosts Aid Efforts

Cyprus hosted a meeting aimed at sending "as many boats as possible" carrying aid to the war-battered Gaza Strip along a maritime corridor, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said.

Representatives of 36 countries, United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups participated in the meeting in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, where a first aid vessel embarked earlier this month and a second ship was waiting to depart.

The charity-run Open Arms made the maiden trip across the Mediterranean, pulling a barge loaded with 200 tonnes of desperately needed food aid. It reached besieged Gaza.

With insufficient aid trucks entering by road more than five months into the Israel-Hamas war, efforts have multiplied to get relief into the long-blockaded territory by air and sea, though humanitarian officials insist overland access is the most effective way.

The aim was to get "as many boats as possible" to leave for Gaza, "utilizing and leveraging our geographical position in the area," the Cypriot top diplomat said.

He added there were "limitations in terms of the reception and distribution", but said there were no plans for infrastructure projects on the ground in Gaza.

US aid group World Central Kitchen, which partnered with the Spanish Open Arms in the first delivery, built a makeshift jetty southwest of Gaza City to receive the shipment, and the US military plans to build a larger pier.

A second ship, the "Jennifer", has been waiting for the weather to clear before it can set sail from Larnaca.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians.

A UN-backed food security assessment has determined that roughly half of Gazans -- around 1.1 million people -- are experiencing "catastrophic" levels of hunger, with conditions particularly acute in the territory's north.