The United States is working to get aid into Gaza through as many channels as possible to help remedy a humanitarian disaster amid Israel’s war with Hamas militants, the State Department said on Monday, describing the situation as “simply intolerable.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing that Washington was “optimistic” about the potential of a maritime aid corridor to Gaza that it has been working on and U.S. military’s airdrops were also set to continue.
According to Politico, President Biden raised the maritime option in recent days as the U.S. began airdropping food into the tiny territory, a process that allows for only limited deliveries at a time.
The maritime option, U.S. and European officials say, is effectively what Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides proposed last year. He confirmed Sunday that his country, which sits about 230 miles from Gaza by sea, was in talks with the U.S. about setting up the route.
“We are in discussion with a number of partners about this initiative, and while it is still in the development phase, we are optimistic about its potential to supplement our air and land efforts,” Miller told reporters. “It’s a matter that we are exploring with commercial partners as well as other partners in the region.”
Asked to comment by philenews, the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that “contacts are in process and will go on both with the US and other actors, to contribute to the effort of the international community to provide humanitarian aid, based on the groundwork that has preceded the issue.”
The delivery of food via sea and air underscores American frustration with Israel, and also suggests that the U.S. efforts to use rhetoric and personal appeals to persuade Israeli leaders to do more to help Palestinian civilians has largely failed, Politico writes.
Ursula von der Leyen, who leads the EU’s European Commission, said Monday the EU would support the Cypriot effort. “Swift action is needed” in Gaza, she wrote on social media.
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed aid trucks to enter Gaza through land borders, but the numbers are far below what aid groups say is needed, and many Palestinians are severely short on food.
The Cypriot initiative to create a sustained, one-way sea route into Gaza entails aid undergoing security checks in Cyprus by government agencies, including from Israel, before being dispatched onwards from the eastern Mediterranean island.
The “Amalthea” project aims to create a humanitarian corridor to Gaza through Cyprus.
Cyprus, situated some 370 km northwest of Gaza, is the closest European Union member state to the region.
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