Humanitarian Aid Carrier Ship Ready To Meet In Gaza Today After Tough Negotiations With Israel

Open Arms ships carrying the help of World Central Kitchen. (Twitter/@chefjosecondres)

JAKARTA - The first ship carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza will dock in the enclave today, lowering 200 tonnes of aid much-needed by Palestinians, following an agreement after tough negotiations with Israel, said Open Arms, a non-governmental organization.

The ship, which carries floating rafts containing food and medicine donated by the UAE Government and charities, will land at a small dock built by the aid group.

This is the first of several ships used by the UAE and World Central Kitchen to carry aid through maritime corridors.

"We only have one mission. We are doing everything in our power to do everything in order to fulfill our mission," Laura Lanuza, project director and communications director of Open Arms, told The National News, as quoted March 14.

Donating countries and aid groups hope this will be the first of many other missions.

The mission comes at a time when the UN main body in Gaza, UNRWA, is facing heated disputes with the Israeli government over claims of unproven support for Hamas and the funding crisis.

Israel has blocked land convoys from entering Gaza, which causes a humanitarian crisis. The Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by more than two million people, is on the verge of starvation. The sea corridor could be a rescue route for many poor families.

Where Open Arms will dock is still undisclosed. The NGO will arrange its own landing.

World Central Kitchen, a US charity run by the famous Spanish-American chef Jose Andres, has prepared a food cargo pulled by the ship on a barge with funds from the UAE.

The sea is considered to be a middle ground that can overcome the problem of delayed aid trucks, but cheaper than the assistance provided and can distribute larger volumes, when the temporary port structure has been built.

"This is where Open Arms displays itself as a agile aid group and does not want to wait for geopolitical changes," said Lanuza.

"Our team and World Central Kitchen are starting to work on technical projects that we have to present to Israel," he said.

"Because even though the corridor was approved by Israel, no one was willing to build it, so we had to cover up the technical section," he continued.

"So we made this technical project, we presented it to Israel, and they agreed. The hardest part is the last mile because there is no port in Gaza," he said.

"The landing must be carried out on the beach. And that makes it very difficult because food cannot be put into the water," said Lanuza.

The charity has been working around the clock with its partners in Gaza, including specialists from the European Union, to build a pier of debris.

"It was a big challenge," said Lanuza.

But in the end we were able to overcome it, finally we had all these talks in Cyprus, with the Cypriot Foreign Minister, with the Cyprus government, from the Palestinian embassy, and also with Israel.

Complete details regarding the plan are kept secret, due to concerns about the distribution of safe and organized aid. The information includes the location of the emergency dock and how assistance from the barge will reach the coast.