Around 50 people, including mayor Andreas Vyras, gathered at the Larnaca port to welcome one of the boats which formed the Gaza Sumud flotilla to the island on Thursday night.

Vyras said he had travelled to the port with the aim “of seeing whether the people on board the boat needed any assistance which the municipality could offer them.

“However, upon my arrival at the port, I found that medical treatment had already been provided to those who needed it and that food and water had been given to those on board,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cyprus Peace Council chairman Tasos Costeas said the food and water had been provided “by volunteer activists” before being transferred to the boat’s crew by ports authority workers.

However, the boat’s arrival still remains somewhat shrouded in secrecy. The name of the boat and the identities of the 21 people have not been made public, and the ports authority rejected a request from the Cyprus Mail to name the boat.

A photograph taken overnight showed the boat parked between cargo ships the Millac and the Zelek Star.

Meanwhile, ports authority director-general Anthimos Christodoulides did tell the Cyprus News Agency that a group of boats located west of Cyprus and headed eastwards “do not appear to be heading towards the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus”.

He explained that the boats all have their communications systems turned off and that as such, they can only be detected with radar once they approach Cyprus’ territorial waters.

The Gaza Sumud flotilla was a group of more than 50 boats which attempted to break Israel’s naval blockade and provide humanitarian aid directly to the Gaza strip.

The vast majority of the boats were intercepted by Israel, with it having been reported that more than 400 people had been detained.