Israel gives Cyprus preliminary OK for aid to Gaza by sea

TEL AVIV — Israel has given preliminary approval to Cyprus for a maritime humanitarian corridor to ship aid to the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The proposal, in the works for more than a month, aims to deliver large quantities of badly needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has waged a nearly three-month-long war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas that rules the territory.

Gaza's 2.4 million people are suffering chronic shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, with only limited aid entering the Palestinian coastal territory, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007. Israeli authorities inspect every delivery of aid into the enclave.

Last week, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for "safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale."

Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said on Thursday Israel had tentatively approved a system to allow international aid to be checked "with Israeli supervision" in Cyprus before being delivered direct to Gaza.

"There's a basic authorization to use this route, but there are still some logistical problems that are waiting to be solved," Haiat told AFP.

Cyprus has proposed establishing a humanitarian corridor to collect, inspect and store aid on the east Mediterranean island before shipping it to Gaza, some 210 nautical miles away.

Official sources told the Cyprus News Agency that Cyprus had completed its part of the necessary procedures, but the issue of the security of the ships and their crews approaching Gaza was raised, as well as who would receive the aid.

During a visit to Nicosia last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen expressed support for creating a fast-track process for humanitarian aid sent to Gaza by sea.

He said Cyprus, Israel and other regional partners are promoting the initiative to facilitate the transfer of aid "in an organized and well-inspected manner."

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.

Nicosia said it is 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.

Israel is facing growing international pressure to increase desperately needed aid to Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has vowed to destroy Hamas, which carried out the Oct. 7 attack that resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on the latest Israeli figures.

Some 250 people were also taken into the territory as hostages by militants during the attack.

Israel's blistering retaliatory assault has so far killed at least 21,320 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.