Chef helps send aid ships to Gaza and calls for ceasefire

With a second tug ship in urgent need of help and ready to leave for Gaza on Sunday, José Andrés, the founder of the food organization that sent the ships, called for a ceasefire and said Israel should do more to prevent hunger in Gaza.

“At the very least,” said Andrés, the celebrity chef, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Israel “should ensure that no one goes hungry and that no one goes without food and water.”

“This is something that should happen overnight,” he added. “But for political reasons I don’t think it happens there.”

Mr. Andrés said he hoped his group, World Central Kitchen, would be able to scale up its burgeoning efforts and eventually bring “massive quantities of food every day to the shores of Gaza,” where, according to United Nations officials, 2, 2 million people are on the run. brink of famine.

Although the Open Arms, the first ship dispatched by the group, has attracted global attention in recent days, the maritime route has so far provided only a small portion of the aid the UN says is needed to prevent famine. The Open Arms towed a ship to a makeshift jetty off the coast of Gaza on Friday carrying the equivalent of about 10 truckloads of food – far less than the 500 trucks a day that aid groups say are needed.

Aid groups — including World Central Kitchen, which has sent more than 1,400 aid trucks to Gaza — have urged Israel to allow more trucks through more land crossings, saying only a rapid flow of trucks can support Gaza’s population.

But according to U.N. data, only about 150 trucks enter Gaza every day through the two open border crossings, due to several factors, including lengthy Israeli inspections to impose strict restrictions on what can enter Gaza.

The restrictions on these entry points have sparked a scramble for creative solutions among donors such as the European Union, which helped establish a maritime route from Cyprus to Gaza, and the United States, which has dropped aid and is leading an effort to build a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to allow more deliveries by ship. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that it would take six to eight weeks to complete construction.

So far, only the World Central Kitchen, which Mr Andrés founded after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, has successfully delivered direct aid to Gaza by ship. The first delivery consisted of approximately 200 tons of rice, flour and lentils, as well as canned tuna, chicken and beef.

The second, which was still anchored in the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Sunday evening, will bring food and equipment to help with future maritime deliveries.

Mr Andrés wondered aloud on Sunday why the Israeli army was bombing buildings in Gaza where hostages could be staying that Israel says it wants to see brought to safety. He also appealed for peace, saying he had seen great humanity on both sides of the conflict.

“The time I spent in Israel, the time I spent in Gaza, it seems that everyone loves falafel and everyone loves hummus with equal intensity,” said Mr. Andrés, whose group has more than 60 community kitchens in Gaza has opened to serve hot meals. “It makes you wonder how people who like the same foods can come into conflict with each other.”