Ships that were supposed to bring around 240 tons of emergency aid to Gaza are turning back after seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli attack, Cypriot authorities say.
Tuesday 2 April at 13:58The aid workers from the organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed after unloading tons of emergency aid from a ship in the city of Deir al-Baleh in the center of the Gaza Strip.
A total of three ships sailed from Cyprus on Saturday after receiving permission from Israel to unload their cargo. Cyprus has played a key role in the effort to establish a maritime aid corridor to Gaza from the port city of Larnaca.
American WCK has been tasked with unloading the cargo, but the organization has stopped the work after the attack.
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THE ATTACK: This is one of the cars belonging to the organization World Central Kitchen, which was hit by an Israeli air strike. -
THE ATTACK: This is one of the cars belonging to the organization World Central Kitchen, which was hit by an Israeli air strike.
THE ATTACK: This is one of the cars belonging to the organization World Central Kitchen, which was hit by an Israeli air strike. Photo: MOHAMMED SABER / EPA / NTB
THE ATTACK: This is one of the cars belonging to the organization World Central Kitchen, which was hit by an Israeli air strike. Photo: Ahmed Zakot / Reuters / NTB
According to the spokesman for the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Theodoros Gotsis, around 100 tons of emergency aid had been unloaded before the WCK suspended work.
The ships had enough equipment and food to prepare more than one million meals. Among the goods are rice, pasta, flour and canned vegetables.
It was an accidental attack that killed the seven aid workers, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday afternoon.
