UAE to help open Gaza aid corridor with EU, UK, US

EU launches Cyprus Maritime Corridor to make sure the relief will reach Gazans in need

Published: Fri 8 Mar 2024, 2:36 PM

Updated: Fri 8 Mar 2024, 11:02 PM

By
Web Desk

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides (right) and president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (centre) inspect the Larnaca Port, where a ship is awaiting permission to deliver aid to Gaza. — Photo: AFP

The UAE will be working with the EU, US and other partners in opening a sea corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza, the ministry announced on Friday.

A ship carrying humanitarian aid will head to Gaza on Friday in a pilot test run of the Cyprus Maritime Corridor, a top EU official said during a Press conference in Cyprus.

In a statement, the UAE's ministry of foreign affairs said the "humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, with innocent Palestinian families and children desperate for basic necessities."

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This has led to countries like the EU, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Egypt, UK, and US to join the UAE in building a maritime corridor to deliver "much-needed additional amounts of humanitarian assistance by sea."

Additionally, the statement mentioned Egypt's integral role in establishing the 'Amalthea Initiative' which outlines a mechanism for securely shipping aid from Egypt to Gaza via sea.

The countries will be working in coordination with UN's Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, who is in charge of facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying the flow of aid into Gaza under UN Security Council Resolution 2720.

The statement emphasised UAE's efforts to work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, while insisting on facilitating more routes and additional crossings.

"We affirm that protecting civilian lives is a key element of international humanitarian law that must be respected. And together, we must all do more to ensure aid gets to people who desperately need it," added the statement.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission said how €250 million euros were used for financing major humanitarian aid effort for Palestinians this year alone.

"But the key challenge is getting this aid to people in Gaza. This is why we’re launching the Cyprus Maritime Corridor, with the US and UAE."

Through this channel, the EU, the UAE, the US and its partners seek to tackle a "humanitarian catastrophe" and deliver large quantities of aid to Gaza as it faces widespread hunger and shortages of essential supplies after nearly five months of war, Von der Leyen said.

A ship belonging to Spain’s Open Arms will make a pilot voyage to test the sea corridor. It’s been waiting at Cyprus’s port of Larnaca waiting for permission to deliver food aid from World Central Kitchen, a US charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés.

Efforts to set up a sea route for aid deliveries come amid mounting alarm over the spread of hunger among Gaza's 2.3 million people. Hunger is most acute in northern Gaza, which has been isolated by Israeli forces for months and suffered long cutoffs of food supply deliveries.

After months of warnings over the risk of famine in Gaza under Israel’s bombardment, offensives and siege, hospital doctors have reported 20 malnutrition-related deaths at two northern Gaza hospitals.

(With inputs from AP)

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