Cyprus sends 900 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza under the Amalthea programme

Cyprus has sent a 900-tonne shipment of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Cypriot Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The shipment included medicines, medical equipment, hygiene supplies, food and equipment for temporary shelter.

The shipment was organised in close cooperation with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the United Arab Emirates, with operational coordination involving the parties directly concerned.

France, Slovakia and Kuwait participated in assembling the shipment, along with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organization and the humanitarian organisations World Central Kitchen, All Hands and Hearts and Project Hope.

Cyprus remains, as the Foreign Ministry notes, a stable hub for the collection, storage, inspection and dispatch of humanitarian cargo. The aid reaches Gaza via the Israeli port of Ashdod. More than 37,000 tonnes of cargo have been delivered there since the humanitarian corridor was launched.

The corridor has been operating since 2024 as part of the Amalthea initiative. Initially, some of the cargo was transported via a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, but it was dismantled, and since then supplies have been shipped by sea to Ashdod and then transported overland.

Last autumn, President Nikos Christodoulides proposed at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh that the expedited cargo inspection mechanisms developed under Amalthea be used at the next stage of the settlement process. At the time, he spoke of six initiatives that the Republic of Cyprus could undertake.