From the sycamore gap tree. Seedlings from the famously felled tree are starting to grow. Hello, im nicky schiller. We start this hour with the latest on the israel gaza war. A Ship Carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid for gaza is getting ready to set sail from cyprus. The spanish vessel, open arms, is preparing to tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food and medical aid provided by the us Charity World central kitchen. Our correspondent anna foster is injerusalem. There is a development in the aid effort towards gaza. A ship has been loaded in cyprus and we can show you pictures of that happening which is going to mark the start of a new maritime aid corridor. A vessel carrying humanitarian aid is expected to set sail from cyprus to gaza in the coming hours. Its the first delivery of supplies to use the maritime aid corridor, announced on friday. It was announced yesterday by Ursula Von Der Leyen and is expected to become operational in the next few hours. It would be a new way to
Prime minister leo varadkar says it was a comprehensive defeat. We return now to the situation in the middle east. The us military says its ships and aircraft have shot down more than a dozen drones In The Red Sea after coming under what it called a sustained attack by iranian backed houthi forces in yemen. Us Central Command said the drones represented an imminent threat to merchant vessels, and us and coalition warships. Here s david waddell. The singapore registered propel fortune is the latest commercial ship to be targeted by the houthi movement. The bulk carrier departed india just under two weeks ago, with her automatic Identification System signalling that she was not connected to israel supposedly to deter this kind of attack from yemen. The uk Maritime Trade Organisation said the captain reported no Collateral Damage to the ship and that she was bound for her next port. These attacks have been ongoing since october, both In The Red Sea and in the gulf of aden, causing many c