Palestine Joins South Cyprus Sea Corridor Plan With Gaza

PALESTINA - Palestine has assigned Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki to investigate details of the planned sea corridors between South Cyprus and the Gaza Strip.

Maliki's weekly Cabinet hearing and held in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank discussed the ocean corridor and guarantees Palestinians could remain in Gaza, according to a Palestinian government statement.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in his remarks said "We object to the South Cyprus-approved sea corridor with Israel. This is because we suspect that ships operating in Cyprus can be used to move our people from Gaza."

"We have not officially received a response from Cyprus regarding this suspicion. We have not received a guarantee from them that these ships will not be part of Israel's plans," Shtayyeh said as quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Thursday, January 4.

Israel's Foreign Ministry on December 20 issued a statement that Foreign Minister Eli Cohen discussed the opening of a sea corridor to Gaza with colleagues from the Greek government in Cyprus, Constantinos Kombos.

The statement indicated within the scope of planned sea corridors that humanitarian aid sent to Gaza would pass an inspection under Israeli coordination at an all-purpose center established at the Port of Larnaca before being sent directly to Gaza without passing through Israel.

Cohen said the corridor would contribute to Israel's economic withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

After the Israeli military expanded land occupations in the Gaza Strip, the Crossing of the Shalom Brakes, where goods from Israel into Gaza entered, were closed, while humanitarian aid entering Gaza from the Rafah border in Egypt was under Israeli control.

UN-affiliated humanitarian agencies have paid attention to the lack of housing for civilians forced to flee in the Gaza Strip, where 1.9 million people out of a total population of 2.3 million people have been displaced by attacks.

The United Nations has highlighted the threat of hunger, scarcity of clean water, the risk of epidemic disease and lack of humanitarian assistance in Gaza.