A ship taking almost 200 tonnes of food to Gaza left a port in Cyprus early on Tuesday in a pilot project to open a new sea route for aid to a population on the brink of famine.

The charity ship Open Arms was seen sailing out of Larnaca port in Cyprus, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein.

The journey to Gaza takes about 15 hours but a heavy tow barge could make the trip considerably longer, possibly up to two days.

Cyprus is just over 322 kilometres north-west of Gaza.

The mission, mostly funded by the United Arab Emirates, is being organised by US based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), while Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms is supplying the ship.

“Our goal is to establish a maritime highway of boats and barges stocked with millions of meals continuously headed towards Gaza,” WCK founder Jose Andres and chief executive officer Erin Gore said in a statement.

Tuesday’s mission, if successful, would effectively signal the first easing of an Israeli naval blockade imposed on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas took control of the Palestinian enclave.

WCK says it has a further 500 tonnes of aid in Cyprus ready for dispatch.

The charities intend to take aid directly to Gaza, which has been sealed off from the outside world since Israel began its offensive in response to an October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then and the United Nations has been sounding increasingly urgent warnings that widespread famine is “almost inevitable” in northern Gaza unless action is taken.

With the lack of port infrastructure, WCK has said it was creating a landing jetty in Gaza with material from destroyed buildings and rubble.

It is a separate initiative from that announced by the US last week, which plans to build a temporary pier in the enclave to facilitate aid deliveries by sea.