Cyprus announced on Tuesday that ships carrying around 240 tonnes of undelivered aid for Gaza will be turning back following Israel’s attack which killed seven aid workers.
According to reports, three aid ships from Cyprus had arrived on Monday carrying hundreds of tonnes of food and supplies organized by the World Central Kitchen and the United Arab Emirates.
Around 100 tonnes of the aid was unloaded before the charities suspended operations.
Cyprus’ Cypriot foreign ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis said that the remaining 240 tonnes will be sent back to Cyprus.
Israel’s strike on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff, causing global outrage.
World Central Kitchen said that the aid effort was coordinated by the Israeli army and was travelling in vehicles branded with its logo.
Last week, a three-ship convoy left Cyprus’ Larnaca Port which carried around 400 tonnes of food and other supplies, amid widespread hunger as a result of Israel’s siege and bombardment of the Strip.
The vessels were carrying essential foods items including rice, pasta, flour, canned vegetables and proteins and equated more than one million millions.
Cyprus has played a key role in trying to establish a maritime aid corridor to Gaza from its port city of Larnaca.
However, the attack has forced the charity to cease its operations in Gaza while it reviews its security protocols.
Both the US and Britain have led international criticism over the strike.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the strike was "unintentional". The Israeli army has vowed to hold an investigation and promised to "share our findings transparently".
Those killed included a British, Polish, Australian, Palestinian and also a dual US-Canadian citizen.
"It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again," Netanyahu said in a video message, confirming that “innocent people” were killed.
Widespread starvation
The ships of aid turning back comes amidst severe food shortages in Gaza.
Israel cut off all aid, food, electricity, food, fuel and water off for Gaza since 9 October.
Oxfam said that the Strip has now reached "catastrophic levels of hunger."
“Northern Gaza is days away from famine and the rest of Gaza faces a similar fate. Children are already dying of malnutrition and starvation under the gaze of the international community," Oxfam's Middle East and north Africa Director, Sally Abi Khalil, said.
"Since December, the number of people in Gaza who have plunged into catastrophic levels of hunger, has nearly doubled," she added.
