Larnaca (agencies)
Yesterday, during a visit to Cyprus, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen supported the opening of a sea corridor between the eastern Mediterranean island and Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Strip, which is besieged by Israel. Cohen met with his Cypriot counterpart, Constantinos Kombos, to “encourage the opening of the sea corridor between Cyprus and the Gaza Strip in coordination with Israel,” according to a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Under the plan presented by Cyprus, the closest EU member state to the Middle East and located 400 kilometers from the coast of Gaza, the aid will be collected and stored on the island, where it will be inspected by a joint committee including representatives of Israel, before being sent to the Gaza Strip on ships. After his meeting with Compos, Cohen stressed the need to “examine aid well,” and told reporters: “We want to create a rapid path to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza through this corridor.”
The two ministers discussed the logistical details of the plan in the coastal city of Larnaca in southern Cyprus. This corridor would provide “a sustainable flow of humanitarian aid in large quantities to civilians” in the Gaza Strip, according to the Cypriot Foreign Minister.
Humanitarian aid currently enters the Gaza Strip in small quantities through two crossing points, where it is subject to careful Israeli inspection.
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