EU announces opening of sea corridor this weekend to transport humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza
The EU announced the opening of a maritime corridor this weekend for the transport of humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza, in the race to stop the famine that is already leading to loss of life, according to news.ro.
"We are now very close to opening the corridor, hopefully this Sunday. And I am very happy to see that an initial pilot operation will be launched today," EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen told reporters after visiting port facilities in the Cypriot port of Larnaca, the departure point for aid shipments
A pilot delivery is expected to leave on Saturday, with a ship operated by Spanish search and rescue group Open Arms, with food provided by charity World Central Kitchen.
"Today we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and we stand with the innocent civilians of Palestine," Von der Leyen said.
The EU said the shipments would go directly to Gaza, 210 nautical miles away, but did not say where they would land or unload, or how the food would be distributed at the point of arrival. It was also unclear how the weekend shipments were connected to the US plan, announced by President Joe Biden late Thursday, to build a floating dock off the coast of the Gaza Strip in the next few weeks to receive aid shipments from Cyprus.
Von Der Leyen did not mention the US plan in his remarks in Larnaca, and the US president did not mention the planned deliveries this weekend in his State of the Union address to Congress.
On Friday, the US, EU and other countries involved in the effort formally announced their support for the maritime aid corridor, built around a proposal, the Amalthea Initiative, developed by Cyprus in November, which outlines a mechanism for making safe shipments to Gaza.
"Delivering humanitarian aid directly to Gaza by sea will be complex, and our nations will continue to assess and adjust our efforts to ensure that we deliver aid as effectively as possible," said the statement, signed by the European Commission, Germany, Greece. , Italy, Netherlands, Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and USA.
The statement mentioned the plan for a floating dock, announced by Biden, but did not explain how it would be integrated with the efforts of other members of the group. In general, aid workers are skeptical of the US solution, pointing out that it will not be operational for several weeks, a very long time given the famine facing the people of Gaza. They also have noted that the distribution and security issues that currently prevent aid delivery have not been resolved.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has confirmed that Britain is part of the maritime corridor plan.
"We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it," he said, adding that it was "incredibly frustrating" that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not heeded calls to open more crossings.
Details of the initial shipments over the weekend have been kept secret for security reasons.
"I understand that the transport will go directly to Gaza, and of course we know that this brings a number of logistical challenges that we have been working on," said Balazs Ujvari, a spokesman for the European Commission.
Aid workers said the US floating dock should be built off Gaza City and its small port, but it was not clear Friday whether that would be the destination for Saturday's expected pilot delivery.
The Cypriot Amalthea plan for a maritime aid corridor is attracting international support five months into the war, after 30,000 Palestinians have died and Gaza, especially the northern coastal strip, is in the grip of famine.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
