UK supports Gaza maritime aid corridor amid 'frustration' at Israel's response
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said a lack of effort by Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza has been "frustrating", as he details a new operation to deliver supplies by sea, as Emma Murphy reports
The UK is lending its support to a new maritime aid corridor which will see ships carrying supplies driven from Cyprus directly to Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron said it was "frustrating" that Israel was not taking steps to allow more aid into the Palestinian territory as he announced Britain's role in the new sea route.
It comes after President Joe Biden ordered the US military to set up a temporary port on the coast of Gaza to increase the flow of aid.
He said that 500 or more deliveries of aid are needed in Gaza, when the average over the past five days has been 123. Mr Cameron said this shortage is fuelling a "dire" humanitarian crisis, with people dying from disease and starving to death.
Aid has been slow to reach the Gaza Strip, partly due to stringent security checks on lorries by Israeli officials, who want to avoid what it calls "dual-use equipment", meaning items that could be used to strengthen Hamas' fighting capacity.
In a bid to resolve this issue, Mr Cameron said the UK has helped with the "pre-screening" of aid in Cyprus, which will be shipped directly across the Mediterranean to the Gazan coast.
The Foreign Secretary said Britain has also been assisting the US to build a temporary harbour in Gaza, but warned "it's going to take time".
"The crucial thing is, today, the Israelis must confirm that they will open the port in Ashdod – that is in Israel – but that's a working port. It could take aid now, that would increase the amount of aid, and that aid could be driven into Gaza.
"That would make a real difference, and we need to make a real difference right now."
A ship carrying humanitarian aid was making preparations to leave Cyprus and head for Gaza on Friday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.
The vessel belonging to Spain’s Open Arms aid group will make a pilot voyage to test the corridor, in the coming days. The ship has been waiting at Cyprus’s port of Larnaca for permission to deliver food aid from World Central Kitchen, a U.S. charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.
Israel said it welcomed the maritime corridor, which, along with the UK, is being supported by the European Union, the US, the United Arab Emirates and others.
“The Cypriot initiative will allow the increase of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, after a security check according to Israeli standards,” Lior Haiat, spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry, said on X, formerly Twitter.
As Israel's blockade of Gaza continues with no immediate sign of a ceasefire, aid is being airdropped into the Palestinian enclave in a combined operation between the US and Jordan.
Charities and aid agencies have criticised the move as ineffective, given the scale of aid that is needed, and a sign of failure on the ground.
The first US drop took place on Saturday, delivering 38,000 meals along Gaza's coastline, CNN reports.
However, this method of delivery comes with potential risks, with at least five people and 10 others injured when aid packages fell on them in the Al Shati camp west of Gaza City.
Journalist Khader Al Zaanoun told CNN he witnesses the falling aid packages, but wasn't sure which country was behind the drop.
Staff at the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City confirmed five people had been killed, while some of those injured were in a serious condition.
While most of the packages appear to have been deployed properly, it is thought an issue with pallets has caused some packages to fall at a dangerous speed.
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