A ship, manned by the Spanish aid organization Open Arms, is seen off the shore of the central Gaza Strip, on March 15, 2024. Traveling through the Cyprus-Gaza humanitarian maritime corridor, the first aid ship reached the coast of the Palestinian enclave and began offloading its cargo on Friday. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

GAZA/BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN/BEIRUT – The first aid ship, traveling through the Cyprus-Gaza humanitarian maritime corridor, reached the coast of the Palestinian enclave on Friday and began offloading its cargo, Palestinian sources said.

The 200 tons of humanitarian aid onboard the ship was received by workers with the World Central Kitchen, which will facilitate its distribution to the local population grappling with severe food shortages, the sources told Xinhua.

"Our team in Gaza is offloading desperately needed food from our first maritime aid shipment under Operation Safeena", WCK said in a statement, adding a crane also arrived at the Gazan coast to expedite the transfer of aid from the ship to delivery trucks.

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The vessel, manned by the Spanish aid organization Open Arms, left Cyprus on Tuesday.

Brunei food aid airdrops

Brunei has allocated over $1 million to deliver 5,920 ready-to-eat meal packages to Gaza via airdrops, official media Pelita Brunei reported.

Citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report said the initial delivery was carried out on Wednesday using aircraft from the Jordanian air force, targeting the northern coastal region of Gaza.

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More deliveries were scheduled for Thursday and Friday to the same location. Each food package contains long-lasting meal for one person, according to the report on Thursday.

Food aid, left on the pallets, from the US charity World Central Kitchen and the United Arab Emirates, is seen being loaded aboard a second vessel preparing to depart for Gaza, at Larnaca port, Cyprus, on March 15, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

‘Funding freeze leading to violence’

Lebanese Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Friday that guaranteeing funding for the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is in the common interest of Lebanon and the whole region.

During his meeting with Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon Dorothee Klaus, Bou Habib warned that halting the funding will "cause Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to lose hope and push them toward extremism and violent acts," reported Lebanon's National News Agency.

Lebanese lawmaker Fadi Alameh, who also attended the meeting, said the Lebanese side is keen to safeguard and support UNRWA, "an important institution created to help the Palestinian people."

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Klaus said UNRWA provides vital and basic services to 250,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and that there is no alternative to supporting them in these difficult times.

A number of donor countries decided to suspend funds to UNRWA after Israel accused the agency's employees in Gaza of taking part in the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack. While some countries have partially reinstated UNRWA funding, given that Israel's claims have not been verified, the agency has lost the bulk of its financial support.