Cyprus: Several ships with emergency aid on their way to Gaza turn back after attacks on aid workers

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, the Cypriot authorities say.

The 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 central Gaza Strip on Monday evening.

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.

The American aid organization WCK has been tasked with unloading the cargo, but the organization has stopped the work after the attack.

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.

Israel has expressed grief over the deaths and promised to conduct an independent investigation into what happened.

(NTB)