In Cyprus, Foreign Minister Cohen backs plan to ‘fast track’ aid to Gaza via island
Cypriots propose establishing corridor to collect, inspect and store resources in Larnaca before shipping them to Palestinian enclave
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen expressed support during a visit to Cyprus on Wednesday for plans to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip from the Mediterranean island amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror group.
Cyprus has proposed establishing a corridor to collect, inspect and store aid on the island before shipping it to the Palestinian enclave.
Cohen, after talks with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, emphasized the need for an “organized and well-inspected” transfer of aid.
“We aim to create a fast track for humanitarian aid to Gaza through this corridor,” he told reporters.
The ministers visited a search and rescue coordination center in Larnaca, discussing logistical details for the plan. Cohen also inspected facilities at Larnaca port, the departure point for aid shipments.
Cyprus was ready to deliver large quantities of aid through this “maritime lifeline” expected to provide “a sustained flow of high-volume humanitarian assistance to the civilians” in Gaza, Kombos said.
“We look forward to your green light for the first voyage,” he told Cohen.
Under the plan, the aid would be checked in Cyprus by a joint committee, including representatives from Israel.
The initiative aims to enhance humanitarian relief to Gaza by importing large volumes by ship instead of the limited deliveries by truck through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure that could speed up the dispatch of much-needed aid to Gaza after over two months of conflict.
Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas, which rules Gaza, in response to the terror group’s October 7 attacks that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The 3,000 terrorists who invaded Israel from Gaza also abducted at least 240 people who were taken back as hostages in the enclave.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that, since the start of the war, 19,667 people have been killed, mostly civilians. These figures cannot be independently verified and are believed to include some 7,000 Hamas terrorists, according to Israel, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. Another estimated 1,000 terrorists were killed in Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel’s campaign has also left swaths of Gaza in ruins, including hospitals. The United Nations says it has also displaced 1.9 million of the territory’s 2.4 million people.
Forced into overcrowded shelters, the displaced have struggled to find fuel, food, water and medical care. While there is a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel has long said that the Hamas terror group has stockpiled supplies and kept them from increasingly desperate civilians.
Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides has promoted his Gaza initiative among fellow EU leaders and friendly Arab states, and Larnaca was chosen due to its proximity to the Middle East.
The city is also home to an international airport, expected to receive aid from other countries.
Israel has close security ties with Cyprus. A Cypriot official on Tuesday said that two Iranian men had been arrested in November on suspicion they planned to attack Israeli business figures in the country. The arrests were the result of a joint operation with Israel’s Mossad spy agency, the official said.
In another move to use the sea for humanitarian relief in Gaza, a French hospital ship docked last month off the coast of El Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai. The Dixmude ship, with 40 hospital beds, was to serve as a floating hospital for Palestinian civilians wounded.
