Israel must open additional crossings into Gaza: Joint statement

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Top officials from the US, four other countries and the European Union agreed Wednesday that Israel must open additional crossings to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza as they work on building a maritime corridor to increase the amount of assistance entering the enclave.

The ministers "underscored the need for Israel to open additional crossings so more aid can reach Gaza, including the north, and to ease overall customs restrictions to facilitate an increased flow of life-saving humanitarian assistance," said a joint statement by the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Southern Cyprus and the European Commission.

The statement came after a video conference attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Union Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic, UK Foreign Minister David Cameron, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Qatar’s Minister of State Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag and Southern Cyprus Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos.

According to the joint statement, the ministers "agreed that there is no substitute to land routes via Egypt and Jordan and entry points from Israel into Gaza for aid delivery at scale."

"The ministers also agreed that opening Ashdod port to humanitarian assistance would be a welcome and significant complement to the corridor," the statement said.

Senior officials will head to Southern Cyprus next week for in-depth briefings on the further activation of the maritime corridor, including US military planning efforts to establish a temporary pier able to receive significant quantities of humanitarian assistance, according to the statement.

"The ministers reaffirmed that this maritime corridor can — and must — be part of a sustained effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial commodities into Gaza through all possible routes — including expanded land routes and continued aerial delivery, working closely with Coordinator Sigrid Kaag — who is charged with facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying the flow of aid into Gaza under UN Security Council Resolution 2720," it said.