A US cargo ship loaded with humanitarian aid left Thursday at noon from Cyprus to the Gaza Stripin a new test for the sea corridor created to transport aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas.

As Deputy Government Spokesman Yannis Antoniou told the Cyprus News Agency, the US-flagged MV Sagamore “loaded with humanitarian aid, left the port of Larnaca before noon for Gaza”. “The ship is carrying a significant cargo with humanitarian aid from the United States, Britain and Cyprus,” noted Antoniou.

Humanitarian aid is expected to be transferred on a temporary jetty constructed by the US off the coast of Gaza before being transferred to Palestinian territory.

Governments and international organizations are scrambling to find alternative ways to provide aid to Gaza after the UN warned of imminent famine amid a sharp drop in international ground aid deliveries, tightly controlled by Israel, which has been under siege from the Gaza Strip since October 9. .

The Spanish NGO Open Arms, in collaboration with the American NGO World Central Kitchen, chartered in March the first humanitarian aid ship that traveled from Cyprus to Gaza.

However, the international community and NGOs emphasize that this sea corridor, as well as airdrops of aid from planes from many countries into Gaza, they cannot replace land-based humanitarian aid.