A second boat, part of the Gaza Sumud flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, docked in Paphos on Friday, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed to the Cyprus News Agency.
Letymbiotis said information had been coming in since Friday morning that a second boat may request permission to dock in a Cyprus port, after the first boat that arrived late on Thursday at Larnaca.
“The second boat docked at around 5pm in Paphos, after submitting a request,” the spokesman explained.
According to the director general of the Cyprus Ports Authority, Anthimos Christodoulides, the boat had initially requested to dock at the Latchi harbour, but as there was no available space, it was redirected to Kato Paphos. After all documents and certificates were checked and found valid, permission was granted for it to dock.
Christodoulides added that the vessel, named Seiren, had 10 people on board. He stressed that the decision to allow docking complied with the Cabinet’s ruling on such cases, and that all legal procedures with the police and port authority were underway to verify whether those on board were EU citizens or nationals of third countries.
In a post on X, Letymbiotis said that after the authorities checked all documentation and certificates, permission was granted and the boat docked in Paphos.
The Gaza Sumud flotilla, a group of more than 50 boats, attempted to break the State of Israel’s naval blockade and provide humanitarian aid directly to the Gaza Strip.
The first boat from the flotilla had arrived at the Larnaca port on Thursday night with 21 people on board and, according to Letymbiotis, the Cypriot authorities “reacted immediately and responsibly, implementing the relevant protocols following the legal procedures in force”.
“The Republic’s authorities ensured that the basic needs of those on board were met, while the necessary assistance was also provided in consular matters any in any requests from third country nationals,” he said.
That boat’s arrival remains somewhat shrouded in secrecy, however, with its name and the identities of the 21 people aboard having not been made public, and the ports authority rejected a request from the Cyprus Mail to name the boat.
Closer to Gaza, the State of Israel has begun intercepting boats sailing towards Gaza and detaining their crew, with the Gaza Sumud flotilla reporting on Friday morning that 443 people had been detained thus far, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
The interception of the boats and detention of the crews sparked protests around the world, including in Cyprus, where demonstrators gathered outside the foreign ministry in Nicosia and clashed with the police, who deployed pepper spray.
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