The international community intends to open this weekend an alternative route to the land blockade that Israel maintains on the supply of aid to the Gaza Strip.
If it occurs, it will be the first large-scale initiative to introduce emergency aid in a territory at risk of famine.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Friday in Larnaca (Cyprus) that the date on which the first consignment of humanitarian aid can set sail by sea from that island to the coast of the enclave is “very close.” Palestinian, probably on Saturday or Sunday.
In fact, this Friday a first pilot expedition was organized to bridge the 210 nautical miles (about 380 kilometers) that separate Cyprus from Gaza and which is expected to be carried out by the NGOs World Central Kitchen and Open Arms.
The operation, supported by the European Union, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Cyprus, is carried out under the approval and supervision of Israel.
This country, as an occupying force, controls everything that enters and leaves the Strip and, in addition, keeps most of the land crossings of the enclave blocked.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) applauds the efforts to get that aid, but insists that “there is an easier and more efficient way to provide assistance and that is through the road crossings that connect Israel with Gaza,” highlighted the institution's spokesperson, Juliette Touma.
More information
The latest news on the war between Israel and Hamas
The president of the European Commission, without offering hardly any details, has referred to the need to assist first the population of northern Gaza, the furthest from the points of arrival of aid by land and, therefore, the most needy
The announcement comes after US President Joe Biden said he is preparing to build a port off the coast of Gaza, an initiative that will take weeks.
Meanwhile, no further progress has been reported in the negotiations between the parties to reach a ceasefire.
This new maritime alternative will serve to increase the flow of food, water and essential basic products that enter the Palestinian enclave, where the humanitarian crisis is such that the small number of trucks that arrive through these border crossings and the launch of parachutes do not serve to mitigate the needs of the local population as little as possible.
In addition, this Friday at least five people have died and ten have been injured during one of these launches, health sources from the Shifa hospital and witnesses of what happened have reported to the AFP agency.
Mahmud Basal, spokesman for the Strip's emergency services, confirmed these deaths.
Apparently, some parachutes did not open properly and one fell like a “rocket” onto a house, explained one of the witnesses, named Mohamed Al Ghoul.
The difficulties on land, without referring to the Israeli side, are what led to the decision to open what is known as the Cypriot maritime corridor, Von der Leyen explained.
The situation is “desperate” in Gaza, where innocent civilians are suffering a “humanitarian catastrophe,” he added during an appearance alongside the Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides.
In this regard, the UN rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, also spoke out this Friday, stating that Israel is using its control over the entry of food to obtain advantages in its negotiations with Hamas and pushing towards famine the entire civilian population for this purpose.
“Israel is intentionally starving the Palestinian people.
Never in modern history have we seen an entire civilian population go into a situation of complete hunger so quickly,” he declared in a press conference, Efe reports.
The President of the Commission recalled that there will be 250 million euros that the EU will allocate in 2024 to humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
Likewise, she thanked the involvement of World Central Kitchen (WCK), the NGO founded and led by the Spanish chef José Andrés, with extensive experience in humanitarian crises in conflict and disaster zones.
This NGO and the also Spanish Open Arms have received this Friday authorization from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) - the Israeli humanitarian division - to sail with a shipment of humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza and also from the Palestinian authorities.
The mission plans to set sail this Saturday around 4:00 p.m. (3:00 p.m. in mainland Spain) as long as the weather permits, as confirmed by the founder of Open Arms, Óscar Camps, to EL PAÍS.
The cargo and the ship will be inspected between this Friday and Saturday morning by Israeli and Cypriot authorities.
The tugboat of this organization, dedicated to rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, will thus open a humanitarian maritime corridor that guarantees a “constant, continuous and scalable” flow, in the words of Camps.
The
Open Arms
has been docked in the port of Larnaca, in Cyprus, for three weeks, stowed with 200 tons of food, mainly flour, rice and high protein products, provided by WCK.
Both organizations have spent the last two months negotiating with the Israeli authorities to open this route of entry for aid and plan to set sail with between 150 and 200 tons of food.
The mission has been created independently by WCK and Open Arms has had diplomatic support from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
This last country has also provided its logistical and financial support, José Andrés confirmed.
“Being with an Arab country in such a complicated place is the smartest thing to do.
We have worked together because they are interested;
The Emirates are also working on a much larger project and perhaps in the future they will all end up cooperating,” he commented during a telephone conversation.
The chef has also mentioned the facilities they have received from Cyprus and the help of his organization's teams in Gaza, made up of more than 400 people.
The project that Open Arms and WCK have presented to Israel proposes solutions to one of the main obstacles involved in opening this humanitarian corridor: the delivery of aid to the Gaza coast.
“We have designed a technical project that guarantees the landing in the last mile of everything.
We could leave right now, and since it is 20 hours of navigation, in two days we can be there with another shipment,” Camps said last Wednesday.
According to this aid worker, his plan includes an operation that will allow humanitarian aid to be received at a safe distance from the coast and from there to organize deliveries at different points on land, “so that other ships can participate and other countries can send ”.
José Andrés has also assured that WCK and its partners have been building a pier in the Strip to receive aid for weeks.
1,800 tons of aid by air
So far the EU has already launched 1,800 tons of aid from 41 flights and does not rule out continuing to use this route.
In any case, in the short term a ceasefire is necessary and, looking to the day after the war, Ursula von der Leyen has insisted on a two-state solution, Palestine and Israel.
“Gaza cannot be a safe haven for terrorists,” emphasized the president of the European Commission.
Israel has welcomed the maritime corridor even though it continues not to allow a greater flow of aid to enter through land passages.
“The Cypriot initiative will allow for an increase in humanitarian aid, after security checks are carried out in accordance with Israeli standards,” said Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, through a publication on the social network X ( formerly Twitter) in which he asks more countries to join.
An injured Gazan man is treated at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, this Friday, after an Israeli attack. Adel Hana (AP/ LaPresse)
Gaza has up to seven border crossings;
six of them separate the enclave from Israel and one from Egypt.
In all cases, it is the Israeli authorities that control the traffic of people, goods or any type of goods in one direction or another.
Since the beginning of the war, only two of these points have been partially enabled.
On the one hand, that of Rafah, which separates Gaza from Egyptian territory.
On the other, Kerem Shalom, Israeli territory, but located next to the vertex where the Strip, Israel and Egypt meet.
In recent days, Israeli authorities have allowed more trucks through each day, but they are still a far cry from the approximately 500 that arrived each day before the war.
There are five other crossings (Erez, Karni, Nahal Oz, Sufa and Kissufim) that are not being used to deliver humanitarian aid to Gazan citizens.
The Erez port is located about thirty kilometers from the port of Ashdod, whose facilities receive part of the aid destined for Gaza, but which is blocked, as in Kerem Shalom, by Israeli ultra groups that defend the humanitarian suffocation of the Palestinians as tool to win the war.
The United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, supports the US initiative to build a port in Gaza, but recognizes that it is not something that will be achieved in a short space of time.
For this reason, the head of British diplomacy has stressed that it is “crucial” for Israel to open the port of Ashdod.
Follow all the international information on
and
X
, or in
our weekly newsletter
.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I am already a subscriber
_