Gaza aid shipments to restart soon, says Cyprus

Aid shipments to Gaza along a new maritime corridor from Cyprus are expected to resume soon, according to Cypriot officials.

Cyprus currently has about 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza stored on the island. It is being held there after the World Central Kitchen (WCK) decided to pause its activity following the death of seven of its workers in Israeli air strikes on 1 April. 

The US plans to set up a dock by early May off Gaza's coast, which will enable aid deliveries pre-screened in Cyprus, with Israeli oversight, to enter the enclave.

"We are in communication with countries we have worked with from the outset, so that very soon, humanitarian aid from Cyprus will resume after the completion of the US project in Gaza," Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said.

The WCK workers were in the process of unloading a second shipment of aid through the Cyprus corridor when their three-vehicle convoy was hit by Israeli strikes.

Following the attack, a convoy of ships returned to Cyprus on 3 April with undelivered aid. 

"The plan is to store the aid until WCK decides what it wants to do," a Cypriot official told Reuters.