Cyprus to Gaza corridor will continue to operate, Cyprus president says

Cyprus’s president has urged an immediate investigation into the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, saying the US-based charity they were members of was a “crucial partner” in efforts to get aid to the enclave by sea.

“We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza,” Nikos Christodoulides said, after a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The Israeli strike hit a convoy carrying a World Central Kitchen team which had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route from Cyprus. Citizens from Australia, Poland and Britain were among the victims.

Christodoulides said that the US-based World Central Kitchen charity is a “crucial partner” in the initiative, dubbed Amalthea, to get aid to the enclave by sea.

The seven aid workers were “traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle,” World Central Kitchen said in an announcement confirming their deaths.

The charity said it was pausing operations in the region with immediate effect. WCK has been active in Gaza since October, bringing food by land routes and also participating in air drops.

Earlier this month, it launched an inaugural sea corridor transporting aid to the enclave from Cyprus.

“We must use all our resources to get answers and to bring in more relief,” Metsola added, describing the situation on the ground as “desperate.”

The EU’s approach, she said, “is to get more help into Gaza, save innocent lives and advance the need for a two-state solution that gives Palestinians a true perspective while giving Israel security.”

A second convoy of ships taking just over 300 tonnes of aid left Cyprus last weekend and got to Gaza around midday on Monday, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said.

Kombos said Cypriot authorities had been in touch with the WCK.

The strike occurred 12 km from the landing area for aid – a makeshift jetty created by the charity. The aid workers had just ended a shift halfway through the offloading process, which was supposed to resume early Tuesday, the Cypriot minister said.

“This is something that has now been frozen and since WCK has made the announcement – they will be leaving the area in order to come back, regroup and see and assess what the next steps are,” Kombos said.

His ministry also issued an announcement emphasizing the need for “absolute respect” for international humanitarian efforts and urging a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the volunteers’ deaths. [Reuters, Kathimerini]