Most of Gaza’s people are now internally displaced, and there are severe bottlenecks in aid deliveries at land border checkpoints with Gaza has been under an Israeli navy blockade since 2007, when Hamas took control of the enclave. There have been few direct sea arrivals since then. The daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues and Hamas taking over aid too.
Gaza has no port infrastructure with the U.S. initially plans to use Cyprus, which is offering a process for screening cargo that will include Israel officials, removing the need for security checks in Gaza.
The European Commission had said a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and Gaza could start operating as early as weekend of Week 10 in a pilot project run by an international charity and financed by the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).
Meanwhile, in Cyprus, charity workers loaded relief supplies bound for Gaza aboard the flat top barge MMS ARIS on Saturday 9th March as part of an international effort to launch a maritime corridor to the Palestinian population to be towed by the 1974 built NGO Proactiva Arms Migrant Rescue Ship (Originally a tugboat) OPEN ARMS.
On Sunday 10th March OPEN ARMS shifted from her berth to the barge MMS ARIS around 1821 hrs UTC
She will tow the barge MMS ARIS with 180 tonnes of food sourced by the charity World Central Kitchen and mostly funded by the U.A.E.
And today, Tuesday 12th March the rescue ship OPEN ARMS left Larnaca, Cyprus at 0718 hrs UTC , part of World Central Kitchen (WCK) Operation Safeena towing alongside the flat top barge MMS ARIS loaded with rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies & proteins.
