By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Michele Kambas
CAIRO/NICOSIA (Reuters) – The head of the European Commission said on Friday a maritime aid corridor could start operating between Cyprus and Gaza this weekend, part of accelerating Western efforts to relieve the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
Ursula von der Leyen’s comments came a day after President Joe Biden announced plans for the U.S. military to build a temporary port on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast, amid U.N. warnings of famine among the tiny territory’s 2.3 million people.
Negotiations on a possible ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its fifth month, remained deadlocked in Cairo, while the U.N. human rights office urged Israel not to extend its military offensive into the border town of Rafah, saying this would cause a further “massive loss of life”.
EU Commission President von der Leyen said a pilot test run of food aid collected by a charity group and supported by the United Arab Emirates could be leaving Cyprus as early as Friday.
“We are launching this Cyprus maritime corridor together, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States,” she said after a visit to facilities in Cyprus.
“We are now very close to opening this corridor, hopefully this Saturday-Sunday and I’m very glad to see an initial pilot will be launched today.”
She gave no details on where the aid would be delivered in Gaza and made no reference to Biden’s announcement, made during his State of the Union speech to Congress on Thursday, that the U.S. military would build a “temporary pier” on the Gaza coast to receive ships carrying food, water and medicines.
U.S. officials said building such a facility could take weeks, so this would not offer any immediate solution to the growing levels of hunger. The U.N. says opening up land routes should remain the priority.
“No U.S. boots will be on the ground,” said Biden, who did not indicate where the planned “pier” might be located. The EU had plans to redevelop the old Gaza port more than a decade ago but they came to nothing and Israel later bombed the site.
Reacting to Biden’s speech, a senior Israeli government official said on Friday: “Israel and the United States are coordinated on the maritime route supply of humanitarian aid. It will be enabled subject to security clearance.”
‘WE DON’T NEED AID FROM THEM’
The Palestinian Authority also welcomed Biden’s comments, but reaction among ordinary Palestinians was much less positive.
“Instead of telling us they will build a port to help us, stop (providing) the weapons they throw at us,” said Hassan Maslah, a displaced Palestinian from Khan Younis now sheltering in Rafah.
“All these American weapons are killing our kids, and killing us wherever we go. We don’t need aid from them, we need them to stop the killing, stop the death.”
While welcoming the latest Western efforts to increase the flow of aid to Gaza, UNRWA, the United Nations’ relief agency for the Palestinians, added a strong dose of caution.
“… there’s an easier, more efficient way of bringing in assistance and that is via the road crossings that connect Israel with Gaza,” spokesperson Juliette Touma said.
Although Israel is increasing the number of aid-bearing trucks allowed into Gaza and the United States and other countries have been airdropping supplies, the assistance getting in it still insufficient, one U.S. official said.
“We’re not waiting for the Israelis” to let in more aid, the official added. “This is a moment for American leadership.”
Palestinian media reported on Friday that two Palestinians were killed and several others wounded when aid boxes dropped from the air fell on people waiting for them in the northern Gaza Strip.
Separately, Palestinian health officials said eight people of the same family had been killed in an Israeli air strike on their house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
CEASEFIRE TALKS STALLED
Egyptian security sources have said the ceasefire talks, taking place in Cairo without an Israeli delegation, would resume on Sunday, the expected start of Ramadan, amid fears that violence could escalate across the region during the Muslim fasting month.
Israel has said any ceasefire must be temporary and that its goal remains the destruction of Hamas, the militant Islamist group that Israel says killed 1,200 people and abducted 253 in a rampage into its territory on Oct. 7.
In response, Israel launched a ground offensive and aerial bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip which, as of Friday, had killed at least 30,878 Palestinians and wounded 72,402, the Hamas-run enclave’s health ministry said.
The United Nations human rights office appealed to Israel on Friday not to extend its military offensive into Rafah, the Gaza town on the border with Egypt where some 1.5 million people are now sheltering.
“… any ground assault on Rafah would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office. “This must not be allowed to happen.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Thursday that Israel would press its offensive into Rafah, saying the alternative would be to accept defeat in its war against Hamas.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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