Second aid ship expected to set sail for Gaza as Palestinians await distribution

JERUSALEM — A shipment of aid that arrived on Gaza’s shore on Friday is expected to bring some respite to starving Palestinians in the enclave’s north — but how and when it will be distributed has yet to be seen.

Tons of flour, rice and canned foods were offloaded from the ship on Saturday, according to World Central Kitchen, the charity that collected the food and organized the maritime aid shipment. The much-needed aid was was transported 200 miles from the Larnaca port of Cyprus to Gaza by the Open Arms, a ship named after the charity.

On Sunday, World Central Kitchen, which was launched by celebrity chef José Andrés and which runs a network of around 60 kitchens across the Gaza Strip, said the aid was in a warehouse and had yet to be distributed.

The statement countered an update from COGAT, Israel’s military liaison with the Palestinians, which said that 12 World Central Kitchen trucks had “distributed the aid” from the maritime delivery in northern Gaza.

World Central Kitchen emphasized that the aid was still awaiting distribution. COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy.

The location of the warehouse where the aid was being held and the plan to distribute the food was not immediately clear.

John Spencer, a retired Army infantry officer who now serves as chair of urban warfare studies at the U.S. Military Academy’s Modern War Institute, told NBC News in a phone interview Sunday he wasn’t surprised by the lack of public information around the plans for the distribution of the aid shipment.

Noting a recent string of deadly incidents in which Palestinians have been killed while waiting for or trying to access much-needed aid, he said: “It makes a lot of sense to me that details of the distribution of the aid are being very close-held.”

He also noted that organizers would be unlikely to distribute aid from the same point more than once due to safety concerns. “They’ll probably move points around,” he said. “If you set up one point, that just gives bigger chances for bigger crowds and chaos.”

Spencer was also unsurprised by discrepancies in statements from the charity and Israeli officials.

In addition to statements on the distribution of aid, there have also been discrepancies around how much aid was included in the maritime shipment, with the World Central Kitchen saying 200 tons of aid was on the Open Arms vessel, while COGAT initially said there were 115 tons, before shifting to 200 in a later update.

Spencer said there were “lots of reasons” for such discrepancies, including the general communication issues that can arise while executing a difficult plan in a chaotic environment. But he said it would not be surprising for an aid organization to want to separate itself from military or government efforts in a conflict zone “when there’s two warring parties.”

World Central Kitchen, COGAT and the IDF didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment around the discrepancies.

World Central Kitchen had initially provided limited information on the shipment’s route to Gaza, citing security concerns.

In a statement on Saturday, it added that “this is a constantly evolving mission that changes constantly due to the realities on the ground.”

The IDF said in a statement Friday that the maritime aid shipment was being facilitated in coordination with COGAT and with the Israeli government’s approval.

It said naval and ground forces had been deployed to secure the area upon the Open Arms’ arrival, but it was not clear if the military was expected to be involved in the management or the distribution of aid — or what efforts were being made to ensure that aid would reach civilians safely after several deadly incidents related to aid deliveries.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that a number of people were killed and dozens were injured while waiting for a separate aid delivery.

The IDF rejected claims that its forces fired on the crowd and shared footage it said showed “Palestinian gunmen opening fire in the midst of Gazan civilians” about an hour before an aid convoy arrived. NBC News could not immediately independently verify the IDF’s claim or determine what exactly is happening in the video.

It came after several other deadly incidents in recent weeks, including the violence on Feb. 29 during which more than 100 Palestinians were killed as they gathered in anticipation of the arrival of much-needed aid.

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