(Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
A flotilla of aid ships is returning to Cyprus after an Israeli airstrike targeted seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen earlier this week.
Reuters reported that the barge left Gaza after WCK staff offloaded aid from it, which sailed from Cyprus when their vehicle was hit on Monday (Apr. 1).
Another ship, Jennifer, was still loaded with 240 tons of food when she headed back to Cyprus on Tuesday (Apr. 2) but did not make her delivery due to WCK suspending its operations.
"One third (of the aid cargo) was delivered, and two thirds is coming back," a Cypriot official told Reuters.
WCK has been active in Gaza since October, bringing food by land routes and participating in airdrops.
Meanwhile, UNICEF said that the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza was "appalling."
"These were brave humanitarian workers trying to do their job," UNICEF's communication specialist Tess Ingram told the BBC. "This absolutely should not happen in the line of duty and it is appalling they have been killed."
Ingram added that UNICEF's operations in Gaza have been impacted by WCK "pausing their operations as they are one of the big helpers."
"We have lost so many colleagues. It is dangerous for us and it is also dangerous for people in Gaza," she added.
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