The first sea shipment of humanitarian relief to Gaza — food aid from the World Central Kitchen aid agency — could depart the Mediterranean nation of Cyprus as soon as Friday, European Union officials said.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union’s executive body, described the shipment as a “pilot project” for a maritime aid corridor to Gaza, but offered few details of how it would take place or where in the territory it would be delivered.
Since October, organizers and Palestinian cooks working with the World Central Kitchen — the aid organization founded by the renowned Spanish chef José Andrés — have served more than 32 million meals in Gaza, the group has said.
Those efforts could be boosted by U.S. military plans to build a floating pier to bring more aid into Gaza, and announcements by Britain, the European Union and other nations on Friday that they would establish a maritime corridor for aid into the territory.
In an interview on Thursday, after the United States announced plans to build the floating pier, Mr. Andrés said it would give the group critical access to a steady supply of food they’d need to more than double the meals they’re serving daily and further aid people in the northern portion of Gaza.
“We’re trying to do the impossible,” he said. “It’s worth trying the impossible to feed the people of Gaza.”
The organization has established 65 community kitchens in Gaza that are managed by local Palestinians, with plans to add at least 35 more, Mr. Andrés said. About 350,000 meals are being served every day, but Mr. Andrés said he would like to distribute more than a million meals.
Getting food and aid into Gaza has been daunting, he said. The World Central Kitchen has resorted to providing some aid through airdrops with the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Mr. Andrés founded the organization in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed some 300,000 people. Since then, he has responded to numerous natural disasters and wars in the United States and abroad. The association served millions of meals in 2017 to Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria, to Ukrainians affected by the war against Russia, and most recently to people dealing with fires in Chile and Texas, among other places.
“We need to shoot for the moon because anywhere we fall is worth the effort,” he said.
The association is the largest emergency feeding program ever set up by a group of chefs, serving more than 350 million meals since it was founded. Its impact is immediate because he and his staff can network quickly, organize kitchens in harsh conditions and source ingredients and equipment.
The kitchens, like those in Gaza, are often managed by locals, who cook their cuisine. Many of those recipes were compiled into a World Central Kitchen cookbook that was published in September.
