Pressure from EU and USA

Sea bridge to Gaza to be in place on Sunday

So far, aid has been sent to the crisis region by air or land - but it has often fallen into the wrong hands, especially by land.

(Bild: APA/AFP/US Department of Defense/Christopher HUBENTHAL)

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is getting worse for civilians from day to day. Under pressure from the EU and the USA, aid is now to reach the region more quickly. A corresponding corridor could be opened by sea on Sunday.

"We are about to open this corridor, hopefully as early as this Sunday," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday in the port of Larnaca in Cyprus. According to the Commission President, a pilot project is due to start on Friday.

Emirates also part of the project
US President Joe Biden had previously announced the establishment of a temporary port in the Gaza Strip for additional aid deliveries by sea. According to the Commission President, the United Arab Emirates are also part of the project.

So far, aid has been sent to the crisis region by air or land - but it has often fallen into the wrong hands, especially by land.

(Bild: APA/AFP/US Department of Defense/Christopher HUBENTHAL)

There are repeated accusations that Hamas is deliberately withholding aid in order to increase the pressure on Israel.

(Bild: APA/AFP/MOHAMMED ABED)

According to Foreign Secretary David Cameron, the UK also wants to participate in the establishment of a sea corridor, as he announced on Friday. At the same time, he called on Israel to allow more trucks to enter Gaza by land. This is the fastest way to deliver aid to those in need.

Biden extremely dissatisfied with situation
Biden denounced the dramatic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip in his State of the Union address, promised the people there more aid and called on Israel's leadership to better protect civilians. "More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom do not belong to Hamas," said Biden on Thursday (local time).

Children have been orphaned, people have lost their homes and have been displaced. Many are without food, water and medicine. "It is heartbreaking."

UN: "War crimes" in the West Bank
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, speaks of war crimes with regard to the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. The establishment and expansion of the settlements amounts to Israel transferring its own civilian population into the territories it occupies, Türk told the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, "which constitutes a war crime under international law".

The Foreign Ministry in Vienna also condemned the approval of additional settlement units and called on Israel to withdraw the "unnecessary provocation". Settlements are illegal under international law, represent an "obstacle to any negotiations" and undermine the viability of the two-state solution, the Foreign Office said on Platform X on Friday.