First aid vessel leaves Cyprus for war-torn Gaza

A Spanish charity ship taking 200 tonnes of humanitarian food aid to war-ravaged Gaza set sail from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Tuesday, aiming to pioneer a "maritime corridor".

A second vessel was being readied to soon make the same journey to help besieged Palestinians, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told state radio.

The Spanish non-government group Open Arms told AFP that its ship, with a barge in tow, started the almost 400 kilometre (250 mile) voyage from the port of Larnaca around 0650 GMT.

"They have left," said spokeswoman Laura Lanuza, but the group did not specify where and when the vessel was expected to arrive, for security reasons.

Later on Tuesday evening she told AFP the ship would take "several days" to reach its destination.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who days ago announced the initiative on a visit to Cyprus, hailed the initiative as a "sign of hope".

"We will work hard together for many more ships to follow," she said on social media platform X. "We will do everything in our power for aid to reach Palestinians."

Kombos, speaking later in Beirut, said "we are working towards the safe arrival of the first shipment and then the safe distribution.

"If all goes according to plan... we have already put in place the mechanism for a second and much bigger cargo, and then we'll be working towards making this a more systematic exercise with increased volumes."

- 'Hope and humanity' -

With the aid entering Gaza by land far below pre-war levels and relief agencies warning of famine, foreign governments have turned to airdrops and are now also trying to set up a maritime aid corridor.

US President Joe Biden last week announced a separate project under which the American military would build a temporary Gaza pier, although the Pentagon has warned this would likely take about two months.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said on X the inaugural voyage from the island, the closest EU member state to Gaza, was "one of hope and humanity" and would establish a "lifeline to civilians".

Open Arms partnered with US charity World Central Kitchen, whose staff were expected to take delivery of the shipment.

The aid includes "rice, flour, legumes, canned veggies and proteins", World Central Kitchen said on X, adding that "our relief team is working to send as many aid boats as possible".

World Central Kitchen has teams in Gaza who were "constructing a dock" to unload the cargo, Lanuza told AFP last week.

"We need to finish the jetty that will allow us to download the food! Failure is not an option... North needs to be fed!," Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, said on X.

Aid deliveries to Gaza by land have faced mounting obstacles, with Israel insisting on time-consuming checks on cargo and frequent bombardments hampering distribution, aid agencies and foreign governments have said.

Israel has blamed humanitarian organisations inside Gaza for being unable to efficiently distribute aid.