Gaza aid ship from Cyprus so far unable to dock (updated)

The ship initially identified by various reports as ‘Lyme Bay’, the first humanitarian aid ship sent from Cyprus to Gaza, was still waiting to dock on Tuesday, after it left Larnaca at the weekend, in a move heralded by the government as the start of the humanitarian maritime corridor, and amid continued visits with Israeli officials to hash out the details of where the aid will go.

According to state broadcaster CyBC, the British vessel departed Larnaca port loaded with 80 tonnes of humanitarian aid on Saturday.

It was escorted by UK Royal Navy warships and will transport the aid through Israel.

The aid from Cyprus, which had been stored in a designated area at the port, was added to the British vessel.

Cyprus received approval following a visit by a delegation of Israeli technocrats last week, who inspected the areas and procedures for controlling and loading humanitarian aid.

However, since then the ship has been floating in international waters just off Gaza, waiting for instructions as to where it will unload.

The ship currently has three choices for unloading the aid, and Cypriot authorities are in constant contact with Israeli counterparts to work on a technical level on how it will be delivered.

The ship can deliver the aid by docking at a beach in Gaza, as the ship can approach in shallow waters and unload, the other option is to leave the aid in the Egyptian port of El Arish, and the third to leave the aid in the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza.

As the location of the ship remained unknown, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis announced that Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen will come to Cyprus to discuss further coordination on the humanitarian aid corridor.

“As it is already known, last week a technical team from Israel visited Cyprus, where they held meetings and visited the infrastructure that is part of the implementation of the initiative. The Israeli foreign minister will hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos in the presence of technical teams to discuss technical issues related to the initiative,” he said.

Kombos also spoke with his British and French counterparts on Monday to discuss the aid corridor.

Asked to comment on the boat itself, Letymbiotis said: “When there is something to announced, then it will happen as soon as possible.

“Starting to implement this initiative is not our responsibility, we expect the condition to allow it.”

Meanwhile, Cyprus and other countries seem to be in favour of the aid being left in Gaza directly, as extra time would be needed to leave the aid in nearby ports.

On Monday, European Commission spokesperson Balas Ouzvari called any attempt, even by third countries, to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip a “welcome development”.

He was asked to comment on the British vessel departing Larnaca port.

Ouzvari said that “every effort counts” when asked about the potential involvement of the EU.

He also added that the EU Commission “is in contact with the Cypriot government, but nothing confirmable at this stage”.