European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed during a visit to the port of Larnaca on March 8 that the European Union is backing a maritime corridor that would allow aid to be transported from Cyprus to the Gaza coast.
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| Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides (L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) shake hands at the presidential palace in Nicosia, March 8, 2024. (Source: AFP) |
Find a way out of the impasse
The Cyprus-led initiative, called Amalthea, is backed by the US, UK and the United Arab Emirates.
The corridor would allow for increased humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, which has been severely restricted by Israeli-controlled land routes since the conflict began. The initiative comes amid warnings of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, where parts of the population are facing starvation.
Speaking in Larnaca, on the southern coast of Cyprus, Ursula von der Leyen said EU leaders could also consider other options, including airdropping humanitarian supplies into Gaza, under US leadership.
The EU has pledged €250 million in aid to the Palestinians in 2024.
According to the Independent , a ship departed this morning, March 10, from the port of Cyprus, “carrying the first equipment to establish a temporary dock to deliver critical humanitarian supplies,” US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement early on March 10.
Ms Von der Leyen said the programme was part of a partnership with the US-based charity World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, which provides food to people in crisis.
The operations come just a short time after US President Joe Biden confirmed in his annual State of the Union address that the US military would lead an “urgent mission” to establish a “temporary port” on the Gaza coast to boost humanitarian aid deliveries.
President Biden said there would be “no American involvement on the ground” during the port’s construction, but it represents a significant shift in the US administration’s involvement in the Gaza crisis.
America's Leading Role
The plan to open a maritime corridor into Gaza was first announced by French President Emmanuel Macron in late October 2023.
But a senior Cypriot diplomat said the plan would not have come to fruition without intervention from the US - whose diplomatic clout could persuade Israel to allow the use of Gaza's coast for humanitarian purposes.
In a speech on March 7, President Biden criticized Israeli leaders for restricting the flow of aid and failing to protect aid workers. Many aid workers had to halt aid deliveries in northern Gaza due to chaos as Palestinians tried to approach the aid convoy.
The original proposal for a maritime corridor, backed by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and presented to EU leaders in Brussels from October 2023, has stalled due to the lack of a functioning port on Gaza's 40-kilometer coastline.
Cyprus is located in the Mediterranean Sea, about 400km north of Gaza. Ms Von der Leyen said Cyprus's participation in the maritime corridor reflected the country's "historic role" as "a bridge between Europe and the Middle East".
A British-operated ship capable of unloading without an actual port could be used as part of the corridor, according to a senior Cypriot diplomat.
Since the outbreak of the war against Hamas, Israel has required all goods entering Gaza to be inspected to ensure that no materials that could be repurposed by Hamas for military purposes enter the enclave.
There is currently no specific estimate of when aid will reach the people of Gaza via the Cyprus-Gaza maritime aid corridor, as the establishment of the new temporary port is in its early stages and could take months to complete.
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