NICOSIA.- A ship will sail towards Gaza on Friday loaded with humanitarian aidsaid the president of the European Commission, while international donors open a maritime corridor to supply the territory hit by hunger and shortages of basic products after five months of war.
A boat from the Spanish NGO Open Arms will carry out the pilot trip, Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Cyprus. where he was inspecting the preparations. The ship is moored in the port of Larnaca waiting to obtain permission to carry food aid from World Central Kitchen, an American charity founded by well-known Spanish chef José Andrés.
The EU, together with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries involved, are opening a maritime corridor to bring large amounts of aid to the besieged Strip in response to a “humanitarian catastrophe,” Von der Leyen said in a press conference with the president of CHypre, Nikos Christodoulides.
Efforts to dramatically increase aid entering Gaza highlight growing frustration in the United States and Europe with Israel’s war conduct.
Biden’s announcement underscored how Washington is having to circumvent its main ally in the Middle East — which is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid — to get supplies to the Palestinian territory, including airdrops that began last week. . Israel accuses Hamas of requisitioning some of those shipments.
Efforts to establish a sea route for the delivery of humanitarian aid coincide with growing alarm over rising hunger among the 2.3 million inhabitants of the besieged enclave. The situation is much more serious in northern Gaza, which has been isolated by Israeli troops for months and where there have been long periods without food distribution.
After months of warnings about the risk of famine in Gaza under shelling, offensives and the Israeli siege, doctors at two hospitals in northern Gaza reported 20 deaths related to malnutrition.
While reiterating his support for Israel, Biden used his State of the Union address on Thursday to renew calls for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“To the government of Israel I say this: Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip,” Biden said before the US Congress, where he again called on Israel to do more to protect civilians and to work towards the creation of a Palestinian state as the only long-term solution to violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
The dock in Gaza will take a few weeks to be operational, according to US officials.
Aid groups say their efforts to get vital supplies to Gaza have been hampered by difficulty coordinating with the Israeli military, continued hostilities and a lack of law and order. Entering the isolated north is even more complicated.
Sigrid Kaag, United Nations High Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for the Gaza Strip, told reporters Thursday night that deliveries by air and sea cannot compensate for the shortage of land routes.
Meanwhile, efforts to reach a ceasefire before Ramadan appeared stalled. Hamas said Thursday that his delegation left Cairo, where negotiations are taking place, until next week.
International mediators had hoped to ease the crisis somewhat with a six-week truce during which Hamas would release some of its hostages, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners, and humanitarian aid groups could bring more supplies to the Strip. .
Palestinian insurgents are believed to have held around 100 hostages, plus the remains of 30 others, since they were captured during their cross-border assault on southern Israel on October 7 — in which about 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and captured another 250 — which sparked the war. Several dozen hostages were freed during a temporary week-long truce in November.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the count of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian victims and combatants.
According to Egyptian officials, Hamas has accepted the main terms for such an agreement as a first phase, but wants commitments that it will lead to an eventual more permanent ceasefire. Israel, for its part, wants to negotiate a more limited pact.
Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the press, indicated that mediators were continuing to press for both sides to soften their positions.
Source: With information from AP
