The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was working to set up the maritime aid corridor into the Gaza Strip, while the Europan Union called on Israel to let more humanitarian aid in, as over 1.5 million Palestinians are on the brink of starvation due to Tel Aviv's inhumane blockade and relentless attacks since Oct. 7.
President Joe Biden last week announced plans for the U.S. military to set up a dock on Gaza's Mediterranean coast that will enable distribution of up to 2 million meals a day in Gaza. Aid agencies say five months of war between Israel and Hamas has driven much of the population there to the brink of famine.
Blinken held a video conference on Wednesday with officials from Cyprus, Britain, the UAE, Qatar, the European Union and the United Nations to discuss getting the new route up and running.
The U.S. was also working with Israel on the corridor, also supported by Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada, but it would take time to establish the corridor, Blinken told reporters at the State Department. "I want to emphasize it is a complement to, not a substitute for, other ways of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and in particular overland routes remain the most critical way to get assistance in and then to people who need it," Blinken said.
President Joe Biden's administration faces growing criticism over its military support for Israel even as it pushes for more humanitarian access to Gaza, where Israeli forces launched an air and ground assault in response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas.
Israel's response has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure and created a humanitarian catastrophe.
Blinken said Israel needs to open as many land crossings into Gaza as possible, noting that shipments into northern Gaza began this week through a crossing known as the 96th gate. The U.S. military has also dropped meals into the strip from aircraft.
"The bottom line is we need to see... flooding the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza," Blinken said, adding that Washington continues to push for a deal that would see a temporary pause in fighting and the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The EU on Wednesday also called on Israel to open additional crossings besides the Cyprus maritime corridor so that more aid can reach Gaza.
"While supporting the Cyprus maritime corridor, we call on Israel to open additional crossings so more aid can reach Gaza, including the North, and to ease overall customs restrictions", EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said on social media platform X.
The statement came after Lenarcic virtually met with Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister Constantinos Kombos, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British Foreign Minister David Cameron, AEU Foreign Affairs Minister Abdulrahman Al Thani and U.N. Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag.