LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – The president of the European Commission said on Friday she hoped for the implementation this weekend of a maritime corridor allowing humanitarian aid to be delivered from Cyprus to the population of the strip of Gaza who desperately need it.
Visiting the Cypriot port of Larnaca, Ursula von der Leyen specified that a boat carrying experimental aid collected by a charitable organization with the support of the United Arab Emirates could set sail as early as this Friday.
“We are about to open this corridor, we hope it will be on Saturday or Sunday, and I am very happy to see that a pilot project will be launched today,” said Ursula von der Leyen alongside of Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Participants, including the EU, the United States, Great Britain and the United Arab Emirates, however, warned of the complexity of such an undertaking if deliveries had to be made directly to Gaza.
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“Delivering humanitarian aid directly to Gaza by sea will be complex, and our countries will continue to evaluate and adjust their efforts to ensure that aid is delivered as efficiently as possible,” they said. in a joint press release.
“We will continue to work with Israel to increase land deliveries, insisting that it open more routes and other crossing points to deliver more aid to more people,” they added. participants.
Cyprus, the closest EU member to Gaza, some 370 km away. The island state has been pushing for several months to launch the corridor, but it is particularly hampered by the lack of port infrastructure in Gaza and security problems.
Under the agreement, the aid would be subject to inspections in Cyprus by a team including Israeli officials.
The head of British diplomacy, David Cameron, also estimated that the construction of a temporary port in Gaza would take time, reiterating his call for Israel to open the port of Ashdod in the meantime.
“So the main thing is that the Israelis confirm today that they will open the port of Ashdod,” he told British television.
(Reporting by Michele Kambas, with contributions from William James in London, French version Tangi Salaün and Kate Entringer, editing by Blandine Hénault)
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