None of the aid sent from Cyprus has been delivered to Palestinians
None of the aid unloaded from the jetty constructed off the coast of Gaza has yet been delivered to the broader Palestinian population, Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said on Wednesday.
However, in Larnaca where aid is being collected from around the world and sent onwards to Gaza, the Cyprus government said it was continuing to load humanitarian aid onto ships.
Speaking to journalists, Ryder insisted that it is “not accurate” that no aid has been delivered at all by the United States, as the country has been airdropping aid into Gaza.
However, asked about whether the 569 tonnes of aid which have been delivered to Gaza via the jetty from Larnaca so far have been delivered, he said deliveries will begin “very shortly”, and that he “does not believe” any aid has yet been delivered to Palestinian civilians via the jetty.
He said the slow progress on the delivery of aid is being taken as his country is taking a “crawl, walk, run approach” to the rolling out of the jetty.
This is being done, he said, “to make sure that we are implementing this system in a way were we’re working out the processes and procedures, including taking into account the security conditions”.
The “security conditions” have been a hot topic of late, with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday warning that the jetty “may fail” if Israel does not improve conditions for humanitarian workers.
WFP spokesman Abeer Etefa confirmed that the aid operation in Gaza had been halted for at least two days after crowds of people looted aid lorries which had arrived on the jetty and one man was reportedly killed.
Another WFP spokesman, Steve Taravella, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that only five of the 16 aid lorries which left the secured area by the jetty on Saturday reached their destination warehouse with their cargo intact.
The other 11 lorries, he said, were waylaid when the crowd approached them and arrived at the warehouse without their cargo.
“Without sufficient supplies entering Gaza, these issues will continue to surface,” Taravella said.
He added that the WFP has “raised the issue with the relevant parties and reiterated our request for alternative roads to facilitate aid delivery”.
Despite the troubles faced with distribution in Gaza, efforts to collect and send the aid seem to be continuing in Cyprus.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, foreign ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis said the collection and transfer of humanitarian aid in and from Cyprus is continuing as usual.
He added that the government is awaiting developments in Gaza to see if a change of course will be required, but that Cyprus’ position is to continue sending humanitarian aid towards Gaza until the facts change.
Presidential press office spokesman Victor Papadopoulos had said on Tuesday that almost 1,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid had set sail for Gaza aboard four ships over the weekend.
“We have a continuous flow of ships. Four ships have been going and coming back,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Nikos Christodoulides had said that “several leaders from various countries” will soon visit Cyprus to show support for the humanitarian aid corridor, and insisted that it is “on track”.