By Al-Fassel | 2024-01-18

The United States and its allies continue to emphasize the urgent need for humanitarian aid for Gaza, where 2.4 million people are suffering from chronic shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine.

Under a deal brokered by Qatar and France, a Qatari plane carrying medicines arrived on Wednesday (January 17) in the Egyptian city of al-Arish near the Rafah border crossing.

Under the deal, "medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza... in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza," Qatar's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the deal, under which 45 hostages are expected to receive medication, AFP reported.

France said the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah where they would be handed over to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.

The directors of three major United Nations (UN) agencies on Monday warned that Gaza urgently needs more aid or "its desperate population will suffer widespread famine and disease."

During his recent trips to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made major efforts to reduce the spread of the ongoing conflict and find ways to ease the suffering in Gaza.

Both Egypt and Cyprus are playing a critical role in the transfer of aid.

On January 2, the United Kingdom and Cyprus, two close allies of the United States, dispatched 87 tons of aid to Gaza via Egypt.

The delivery to Port Said in Egypt for transfer to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing established for the first time a workaround for aid delivery by sea.

Cypriot officials said they had successfully tested a screening mechanism for cargoes, offering an alternative route for badly needed supplies.

"British Forces Cyprus continue to support the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza," a British Foreign Office spokesperson told AFP on Sunday.

'Amalthea' project

The initiative to dispatch aid from Cyprus to Gaza via Egypt is known as the "Amalthea" project, which ensures an operational mechanism for secure receipt, storage and loading of aid, according to multiple reports.

A British naval vessel, equipped for versatile delivery options, played a crucial role in the first cargo shipment, which included 10 tons of pharmaceutical products contributed by Cyprus, said Cyprus's KNews.

For this initiative, Cyprus coordinated with the Egyptian Red Crescent and established procedures involving UN agencies and other stakeholders, highlighting the careful planning of this humanitarian mission, KNews said.

Cyprus has provided a significant financial contribution to aid for Gaza.

It contributed €1.1 million ($1.2 million) in 2023 to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), World Food Program (WFP), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Red Crescent.

The Amalthea project continues to collaborate with all involved parties as they adapt to evolving ground conditions, a European Union (EU) report said.

Cyprus has the third largest shipping fleet in the bloc after Malta and Greece, and is among the world's largest ship management centers.

Future consultations and optimization efforts will focus on operational aspects, immediate to long-term planning, and various delivery options, as Cyprus has a a secure departure point in Larnaca, according to the EU report.

The port of Larnaca, which has been designated as the focal point for sending aid to Gaza, is only 400km from the war zone.

Aid can be dispatched to Gaza via ships from Larnaca, in higher volumes and shorter times, as each ship has up to 500 times the capacity of a truck.

Maritime aid corridor

On December 28, Israel gave preliminary approval to Cyprus for a maritime humanitarian corridor to ship aid to Gaza, its foreign ministry said.

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

Cyprus had proposed establishing a humanitarian corridor to collect, inspect and store aid before shipping it to Gaza.

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, 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.

Access to Israeli port

Three UN agencies on Monday called on Israel to allow access to the port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid.

The use of Ashdod, located some 40km north of the Gaza border, is "critically needed by aid agencies," the WFP, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a joint statement.

Allowing aid agencies to use that port "would enable significantly larger quantities of aid to be shipped in and then trucked directly to the badly affected northern regions of Gaza, which few convoys have managed to reach," they said.

Opening Ashdod would speed the transport of food to Gaza's population from the north, the WFP regional director for the Middle East, Corinne Fleischer, told AFP earlier this month.