Seventeen tonnes of humanitarian aid that arrived in Cyprus on Saturday from Italy will be sent to Gaza as soon as possible via Ashdod, through the Amalthea sea corridor, foreign ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday.

A plane “arrived in Cyprus on Saturday with 17 tonnes of food,” Gotsis said.

“Throught the Security Council 1720 mechanism, the protocol we have set will be observed, the scanning will take place so that the aid can be sent to Ashdod as soon as we are ready and from there on to Gaza,” he added.

Gotsis said things were moving as fast as possible.n

“They are clearly technical matters and arrangements. They take a little time but the aid will be sent through Cyprus’ Amalthea sea corridor, which is the responsibility of the foreign ministry and other involved services,” he explained.

The Amalthea corridor was established earlier this year to ship aid to Gaza from the island that had been prechecked and deemed secure.

However, after many false starts on July 17, the US announced a temporary jetty its forces had constructed to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid arriving into Gaza from Cyprus would never be used again.

An Italian air force plane took off on Saturday carrying humanitarian aid to be delivered to the population in Gaza.

The aid aboard the C-130J aircraft, which departed from the central Italian city of Pisa, had been collected by charity group Confederazione Nazionale delle Misericordie d’Italia.

Gotis told the Cyprus Mail assistance was offered by the Order of Malta in Cyprus and the Italian government.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the humanitarian aid includes flour, pasta, tomatoes, water, milk and rusks, which will be sent to Palestinian civilians.

Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Cyprus Domenico Gianni said the order and the charity group felt the need to help “in a substantive manner, offering a ray of hope for a future of peace and reconciliation.”

Members of the UN Security Council called on Monday for an increase in assistance to reach people in need in Israeli-besieged Gaza, warning that the situation in the Palestinian enclave was getting worse.

Nearly 100 trucks carrying food for Palestinians were violently looted on November 16 after entering Gaza, in one of the worst aid losses during 13 months of war in the enclave where hunger is deepening, two UN agencies told Reuters on Monday.