The drop off marks an initial success for the new maritime corridor, which the WCK and Spanish NGO Open Arms opened this week with the support of various EU and Arab governments. 

“This was a test,” wrote WCK founder José Andrés on X. “[W]e could bring thousands of tons a week.”

“We want to increase the volume of humanitarian aid transfer, so we are talking to several states,” Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters late Friday. “We are on a very good track, there is support after that started from clearly many more states because they see that what we said is being implemented and we are continuing,” he said.

A dozen trucks will distribute the first provisions to northern Gaza, where acute child malnutrition has doubled in the last month, according to the United Nations. 

“The speed at which this catastrophic child malnutrition crisis in Gaza has unfolded is shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, on Friday.

The U.N. agency reports that at least 23 children in northern Gaza have died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks, adding to the mounting toll of children killed by Israeli bombing — up to 13,450, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s latest count.