A Spanish charity ship carrying 200 tons of humanitarian food aid set sail from Cyprus to Gaza on Tuesday, the latest effort to feed tens of thousands of starving Palestinians as fighting between Israel and Hamas militants rages on.
The food, gathered by World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, was on a barge being towed by a ship belonging to the Spanish aid group Open Arms and headed to an undisclosed location on the Gaza coast. The 400-kilometer voyage was expected to take two to three days.
A second vessel was being loaded in Cyprus to soon make the same trip to help besieged Palestinians, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told state radio.
Speaking later in Beirut, Kombos said “We are working towards the safe arrival of the first shipment and then the safe distribution.”
"If all goes according to plan... we have already put in place the mechanism for a second and much bigger cargo, and then we'll be working towards making this a more systematic exercise with increased volumes," he said.
Andres said while there was no certainty the food delivery would be successful, “the biggest failure will be not trying.”
“We could bring millions of meals a day,” Andres said. “The people of the north [in Gaza] will be fed!”
The U.S. military has dispatched a ship to the Mediterranean to build a temporary pier on the Gaza shoreline to provide passage for more aid trucks but says the dock may take two months to be completed.
No cease-fire
The United States, Qatar and Egypt had hoped to broker a cease-fire before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began Monday that would have included the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and a greater flow of aid into Gaza. The talks stalled last week.
The U.S. is encouraging Israel to "stay engaged," said national security adviser Jake Sullivan during a news briefing Tuesday. "We believe that there still is scope for this deal to get done, notwithstanding the fact that we have entered the Ramadan period," Sullivan added.
Sullivan declined to confirm reporting that the administration is considering placing conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel should it continue with plans to invade Rafah without adequate plans to protect civilians. More than 1 million Palestinians are seeking safety there, Gaza's southernmost area close to the Egyptian border.
"I'm not going to comment on hypotheticals," Sullivan said, reiterating the administration's talking points that the U.S. does not support a military operation in Rafah that "cuts off the main arteries of humanitarian assistance, and then places enormous pressure on the Israel-Egypt border."
American Israeli hostage death
President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was "devastated" to learn that 19-year-old American Israeli soldier Itay Chen had been killed. Chen was previously believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, but the Israeli military announced this week that he was killed during the October 7 attack.
"I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Chen's family has been prominent in pushing Israeli and American officials to secure the release of the 100 or so hostages still held by Hamas. His father, Ruby Chen, has made repeated media appearances and met with top U.S. officials.
Sullivan underscored the grim fate of other hostages held by Hamas, saying that the U.S. cannot ascertain "whether they are still alive."
Lebanon attacks
On a second battle front, the Israeli military said about 100 projectiles were launched from Lebanon on Tuesday, some of the heaviest fire coming from Israel's northern neighbor since the start of the war in Gaza.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage following the strikes, which appeared to be in response to Israeli airstrikes deep in Lebanon on Monday. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel's military and fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah have been trading fire since the Israel-Hamas conflict began. More than 220 Hezbollah fighters and nearly 40 civilians have been killed on the Lebanese side, while in Israel, nine soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed in the attacks.
Sullivan said the U.S. administration is engaging in "delicate diplomacy" to end hostilities between Israel and Lebanon "consistent with past agreements and consistent with the principle that the people who have been displaced from their homes can return to them."
More Israeli strikes
Palestinian officials said an Israeli strike early Tuesday on a home in central Gaza killed 11 people, including four women and five children, all from the same family.
Israel also reported carrying out new airstrikes in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza as it pushes forward with its campaign to eliminate the Hamas militant group.
Israel said Monday that an airstrike in Gaza over the weekend targeted a senior Hamas military leader, but it was still trying to determine whether he had been killed. The strike on the presumed hideout of Marwan Issa took place "between Saturday and Sunday," Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a news briefing.
He said the compound in central Gaza was used by two senior members of Hamas, including Issa, who Israel accuses of being one of the key planners behind Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel.
Issa is second in command of Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
"We are still examining the results of the strike, and final confirmation has yet to be received," Hagari said.
Israel began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas after the group's October 7 terror attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages. Gaza health officials say Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 31,000 people and injured 72,700 others.
White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this article. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
