By Serdar Dincel
ISTANBUL (AA) - A ship carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip sailed Wednesday from Türkiye to the coastal enclave, according to officials.
A total of 1,908 tons of humanitarian aid materials with food, health, hygiene and shelter supplies loaded onto the Türkiye-Qatar Gaza Goodness Ship, departed from the Mersin International Port, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said in a statement.
Türkiye has delivered 52,016 tons of various humanitarian aid materials to Gaza by 13 aircraft and 10 ships, it added.
Israel has pounded Gaza in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.
Nearly 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and 78,100 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.