Chef José Andrés acknowledged that sending shipments to Gaza could still be a “failure,” despite his organization’s efforts to supply the embattled region with food as war rages between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“Failure is a possibility. But what we cannot do is use fail the people of Gaza,” Andrés told NBC’s Kristen Welker in a “Meet the Press” interview that will air Sunday. “That will be the true failure … not trying.”
“So we’re trying and I hope that in few days we can say we had a little success and from that success, everybody being comfortable that this is possible, we can build a bigger system to bring huge quantities of food daily into the shores of Gaza,” the famous chef from Spain added.
Andrés and his organization, World Central Kitchen, have been calling for more access points to deliver food and humanitarian aid to Gaza. On Tuesday, an aid ship loaded with about 200 tons of food gathered by the organization set sail from Cyprus for Gaza.
He gave Welker the latest update on the ship in the part of the interview that was released Tuesday.
“But right now, yes, we have a boat with a barge with almost 200 tons of food that we’re doing this pilot, because it’s the first time that anybody is going to be trying to arrive to the shores of Gaza in years, because there’s been a navy blockade of Gaza,” he said.
“So that alone, it’s an amazing achievement that we are already, with permission by everybody involved, sailing towards Gaza,” the chef added.
The food shipment by sea comes days after President Biden announced the U.S. would build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast to increase aid deliveries. However, the temporary pier is still expected to take two months to build and could require the help of up to 1,000 troops.
Democrats nominated Andrés and his organization for a Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year for efforts to provide more than 350 million local-made dishes worldwide — including to Ukraine amid its war with Russia.