March 8 (UPI) — Britain, the European Union, United Arab Emirates and United States said Friday they would work together to establish a sea corridor to ship aid to the temporary port the United States is constructing on the coast of Gaza.
In a joint statement, the countries said they would build on Cyrpus’ so-called Amalthea Initiative mechanism for securely shipping humanitarian supplies from Cyprus to Gaza to “deliver significant additional aid by sea” working in coordination with the U.N. Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for the enclave.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, with innocent Palestinian families and children desperate for basic necessities. That is why today, the European Commission, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, the Republic of Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States announce our intent to open a maritime corridor to deliver much-needed additional amounts of humanitarian assistance by sea,” the joint statement said.
“This maritime corridor can — and must — be part of a sustained effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial commodities into Gaza through all possible routes.”
The mission will initially marshal stocks of food, water, medicine and temporary shelters on Cyprus before loading it onto large ships to take it onward to Gaza.
Speaking in Cyprus, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the corridor could begin operating as early as the weekend with a dry-run possibly departing the island for Gaza on Friday, despite U.S. President Joe Biden saying the planned port would take weeks to construct.
U.S. officials said Thursday that the U.S. military has “unique capabilities” enabling it to construct the facility without putting U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza.
The project would take “a number of weeks to plan and execute” with the assistance, they said, of forces currently or soon to be deployed in the region. Once aid begins to flow, the United States would work with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to distribute it inside Gaza.
Biden officially announced the corridor plans during his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night, a wide-ranging 90-minute speech in which insisted “No U.S. boots” on the ground would be required.
“This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day. But Israel must also do its part. Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire.”
Israel welcomed the maritime corridor but insisted shipments into Gaza would still be subject to security checks “in accordance with Israeli standards.” The BBC reported that those checks would take place on Cyprus.
The Israeli military has been accused of slowing down the flow of aid trucks entering the Gaza strip to a trickle and impeding them from moving freely within the territory once there. Israel in turn blames aid organizations for the shortages.
