The first aid ship to Gaza carrying 200 tons of much-needed food has been offloaded in new efforts to ease a dire humanitarian crisis.
A second boat of 240 tonnes of humanitarian food aid is being prepared, according to nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK).
But aid shipments cannot stop what aid agencies warn is a looming famine in Gaza on their own.
Here's why: There are no functioning ports left in Gaza, with UN Special Rapporteur for food Michael Fakhr saying last week that Israel has decimated the enclave's main port.
For the ship that arrived Friday, workers had to assemble a jetty to which the vessel could be connected before being offloaded.
President Joe Biden has announced plans to establish a separate port in Gaza to receive large aid shipments, that floating pier could take up to two months to complete, according to the Pentagon.
Ships carrying aid are subject to the same Israeli inspections that have been accused by aid agencies of denying access for arbitrary reasons, or no reason at all.
A 200-ton shipment does not match up to the daily average of about 94.5 trucks crossing into Gaza via land as of last month. Each carries about 20 tons of aid — and even that’s far below the estimated 500 trucks the UN says are needed daily to alleviate the suffering of Gazans.
Read more about the challenges aid deliveries in Gaza are facing.
