EU to open sea corridor for Gaza aid amid Palestinian doubt
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The EU Commission President claims that the pilot delivery is scheduled to depart on Saturday but did not specify the destination or location for loading and unloading the shipments.
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An aerial view of mourners looking on as medics prepare the 47 bodies for mass reburial amid the ongoing Israeli genocide and starvation war in Gaza (SAID KHATIB/AFP)
The EU has declared the initiation of a maritime passage this weekend to transport humanitarian assistance from Cyprus to Gaza, allegedly aiming to prevent a famine that is already causing casualties.
“We are now very close to the opening of the corridor, hopefully this Sunday. And I’m very glad to see that an initial pilot operation will be launched today,” the EU Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, informed reporters following a visit to the harbor facilities at the Cypriot port of Larnaca, which serves as the starting point for the aid shipments.
A trial shipment is reportedly anticipated to depart on Saturday, utilizing a vessel managed by the Spanish search and rescue organization Open Arms, transporting food supplied by the charitable organization World Central Kitchen.
“Today we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and we stand by the innocent civilians in Palestine,” Von der Leyen claimed.
The EU alleged that the deliveries would directly reach Gaza, located 210 nautical miles away. However, details regarding the specific landing or unloading locations and the distribution process from the landing point were not provided. Additionally, the connection between these weekend shipments and the recently announced US plan by Joe Biden on Thursday night to construct a floating dock off the Gaza shore in the coming weeks for "receiving aid shipments" from Cyprus remains unclear.
Von der Leyen did not reference the US plan during her statements in Larnaca, and the US president did not discuss the upcoming deliveries scheduled for this weekend in his State of the Union address to Congress.
On Friday, the US, EU, and other participating nations officially declared their support for the maritime aid corridor. This initiative, known as the Amalthea Initiative, has been under development by Cyprus since November and details a secure mechanism for transporting shipments to Gaza.
“The delivery of humanitarian assistance directly to Gaza by sea will be complex, and our nations will continue to assess and adjust our efforts to ensure we deliver aid as effectively as possible,” the statement said, inked by the European Commission, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, and the US.
The statement acknowledged Biden's announcement of a floating pier but didn't clarify its coordination with the group's collective efforts. Aid workers have criticized the US pier proposal, highlighting its delayed operational timeframe, which poses a significant risk during a famine. They also observed that the plan fails to address ongoing challenges related to distribution and security that currently impede aid deliveries.
It's noteworthy that the European Union and the United States have been the main allies of "Israel" in its ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Both entities possess the potential to exert pressure on "Israel", calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid. Palestinians have expressed doubt regarding the EU and US plans, fearing that such moves could be a prelude to international military presence on Palestinian soil and to the expulsion of Palestinians under different pretexts.
PFLP warns of suspicious US plan for Gaza pier
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has issued a warning against the US plan to establish a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza for "transporting aid to the sector."
The movement emphasized that the US plan is "suspicious and dubious" and goes beyond the goal of aiding the Palestinian people, opening the door to executing other alarming objectives, such as forced displacement plans under humanitarian and other pretexts.
It also considered the issuance of instructions by the US President to establish the port an attempt to appease public opinion in the United States and part of his electoral propaganda at a time when there had been no real pressure exerted to force the occupation to stop the starvation war or its crimes against the Palestinian people or to facilitate the entry of convoys into the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, the PFLP affirmed that the step would be approached with caution and skepticism, especially given the behavior and positions of the US administration, its actions against the Palestinians, and its bias toward the occupation.
It regarded the attempts to portray this step as evidence of a rift between the US administration and the occupying entity as inaccurate, emphasizing the partnership between the two sides in aggression, genocide, and starvation.
The movement further questioned the significance of the step at a time when the United States could effectively impose aid entry through alternative means, such as compelling the opening of border crossings and delivering assistance via land routes through international institutions, particularly the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
It emphasized that the alternative to these suspicious plans was to press for the cessation of aggression and the complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip. This includes the return of the forcibly displaced to their areas and homes, as well as the opening of crossings to allow the entry of aid without restriction or conditions and its distribution across the Strip.
"Any actions beyond those aforementioned are futile, dubious, and unwelcomed," it added.
PFLP concluded its statement by affirming that the Resistance will remain vigilant and will confront any "suspicious US plans or any other actions that might compel Palestinians to be expelled to liquidate the Palestinian cause."
It further confirmed that the US presence would be a legitimate target for the Resistance.
Read next: Biden's new port plan won't bring relief to Gaza: Economist
