Britain’s Defense Minister says the UK is looking into different ways of shipping additional humanitarian aid from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip more directly, including offloading aid in Israel from where it could enter the Palestinian enclave through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Defense Minister Grant Shapps says the ship “could go to Israel directly and even through Kerem Shalom that the Israelis have opened.”
Speaking after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides Friday, Shapps said these options, which would allow large quantities of aid to be delivered to the people of Gaza more quickly, require “quite a lot of organization work.”
Earlier this month, the British Royal Navy ship Lyme Bay delivered 96 tons of heating blankets, tents and Cyprus-donated medicine to Egypt’s Port Said from where it would enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The delivery was part of a Cypriot initiative for a continuous supply of large quantities of aid more directly to Gaza from the eastern Mediterranean island nation some 240 miles (386 kilometers) away.
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From the Liveblog of
Friday, January 19, 2024
