Limassol (Cyprus), Aug 19: A ship carrying 1,200 tonnes of food supplies for the Gaza Strip is approaching the Israeli port of Ashdod to alleviate the worsening crisis as famine threatens the Palestinian territory.
The ship is loaded with 52 containers carrying food aid such as pasta, rice, baby food, and canned goods.
The aid is sourced from Cyprus, Italy, the Maltese government, a Catholic religious order in Malta, and the Kuwaiti nongovernmental organisation Al Salam Association.
Cyprus was the staging area last year for 22,000 tonnes of aid deliveries by ship directly to Gaza through a pier operated by the international charity World Central Kitchen and a US military-run docking facility known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system.
The latest shipment comes a day after Hamas accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators for a ceasefire, but Israel has not approved the latest proposal so far.
The UN last week warned that starvation and malnutrition in the Palestinian territory are at their highest levels since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that the Palestinian death toll from 22 months of war has passed 62,000, with women and children making up around half the dead. (AP)
