A ship that belongs to the Spanish aid group Open Arms is preparing to sail from Cyprus to the coastal Gaza Strip with some 200 metric tons of food aid.

The UN has repeatedly warned of famine in the Palestinian territory, into which aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required to meet basic humanitarian needs have been allowed to flow since the war began on October 7.

On Monday morning, it remained unclear exactly when the ship would depart after a delay due to "technical issues."

Israel has said it welcomes the sea deliveries and will inspect cargo bound for Gaza before it leaves Cyprus.

DW correspondent Rosie Birchard says the aid includes "things like flour, rice, protein like canned tuna." 

"The idea is that Cypriot officials check the goods here in Cyprus, overseen by Israeli officials, before it departs so that they can go directly to Gaza," Birchard, who is in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, reported.

The pilot voyage should take two to three days to arrive at an undisclosed location in Gaza.

The provisions are being supplied by the US charity World Central Kitchen, which said construction work began on a landing jetty in Gaza on Sunday.

When the vessel arrives in Gaza, the cargo is set to be offloaded by a crane, placed on trucks, and driven north, where food is said to be in particularly short supply.