LARNACA, Cyprus - A ship was preparing Friday to leave Cyprus and head for Gaza with humanitarian aid, the European Commission president said, as international donors launch a sea corridor to supply the besieged territory facing widespread hunger and shortages of essential supplies after five months of war.

The vessel, belonging to Spain’s Open Arms, will make a pilot voyage to test the corridor, Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Cyprus, where she’s inspecting preparations for the sea corridor. The ship has been waiting at Cyprus’s port of Larnaca for permission to deliver food aid from World Central Kitchen, a U.S. charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.

Israel said Friday it welcomed the opening of the maritime corridor but cautioned it would also need security checks.

“The Cypriot initiative will allow the increase of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, after a security check according to Israeli standards,” Lior Haiat, spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, said on X.

The European Union, together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries involved in the effort are launching the sea route in response to the “humanitarian catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza, Von der Leyen said at a news conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

“We are now very close to the opening of the corridor, hopefully this Saturday, this Sunday, and I’m very glad to see that an initial pilot operation will be launched today,” she said. “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, with innocent Palestinian families and children desperate for basic needs.

The ship will depart for Gaza on Saturday, Christodoulides told The Associated Press.

In Brussels, commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said the Open Arms ship’s direct route to Gaza raises a number of “logistical partners” which are still being worked out. He said U.N. agencies and the Red Cross will also play a role in how the corridor will work.

Christodoulides said Cyprus, as the EU’s easternmost member state, had “the moral duty” to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” leveraging its role in excellent relations with all countries in the region.”

The latest efforts to dramatically ramp up aid deliveries signaled growing frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war in the United States and Europe.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a plan to open an offshore port to help deliver aid, underscoring how the U.S. has to go around Israel, its main Mideast ally and the top recipient of U.S. military aid, to deliver aid to Gaza.