By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 08 March 2024
Edit Thread

Hmm, I knew it would take weeks at least, but months. The time to act is last month.

UK’s Cameron says maritime corridor will ‘take months’ to set up

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the planned maritime corridor to bring aid into Gaza “will take months to stand up” in its entirety. While he welcomed the US-led plan, he called for aid to immediately be let into the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of the Gaza Strip.

“Ships could go today from Cyprus to Ashdod with aid,” Cameron told the BBC. He added that “Britain will play a part in the pre-screening” of aid in Cyprus, and “we can play a part if necessary in the provision of the aid and its delivery.”

Humanitarian groups have repeatedly said the delivery of aid via air or sea routes is inefficient and costly, insisting that the usage of land crossings is the most effective way.

Israel’s blockade on Gaza has a 17-years long history

Since October 9, Israel’s reinforced blockade of the Gaza Strip has included stopping or restricting food, electricity and fuel supplies as well as commercial goods.

Yet, a blockade has been imposed on the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza since 2007, virtually isolating the tiny coastal enclave from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory and the world. This land, sea and air blockade limited the number and specified categories of people and goods allowed in and out through the Israeli-controlled crossings.

This wreaked havoc in economic and productive sectors affected by Israeli import and export restrictions, with hundreds of factories closing and thousands of workers laid off following raw material shortages and ongoing fuel and electricity crises.

Critics of a plan to establish a maritime corridor to supply Gaza with humanitarian aid via the Mediterranean Sea, spearheaded by the US and EU, say it strengthens the blockade rather than contribute to its lifting and to the permanent opening of new crossings into the besieged Strip.


Palestinians condemn US aid pier plan

As we’ve been reporting, the US plan to build a temporary port off Gaza’s coast to step up the delivery of aid has been criticised as an attempt to divert attention from Israel’s consistent blocking of assistance to the enclave despite UN warnings of a looming famine.

Commenting on Biden’s announcement, Gaza residents said what they urgently needed was for the US to stop providing Israel with weapons.

“Instead of telling us they will build a port to help us, stop [providing] the weapons they fire at us,” Hassan Maslah, a displaced Palestinian from Khan Younis, now sheltering in Rafah, told Reuters.

“All these American weapons are killing our kids and killing us wherever we go. We don’t need aid from them. We need them to stop the killing, stop the death,” he said.

All agreements in place for ‘trial run’ of temporary pier

There is effectively going to be a temporary pier, probably built by the US Army, as they’re the quickest at doing things of this nature. The boat will dock there. Then, the aid is going to be reloaded onto smaller boats to be taken to Gaza, and from there, they’ll load it up on trucks.

All of this has to run smoothly because they don’t just want to do one boat a day. They’re going to want to do multiple.

So, this is all a trial run but all of these agreements are now in place, they’ve just got to make it work. How quickly that pier will be built by the US remains to be seen.


The houthis are not going to back down with this kind of support

Yemen’s Sanaa stages mass demonstration in support of Gaza

Local media and activists have shared videos and photos of a mass demonstration held in support of Gaza in al-Sabeen Square of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. The protesters raised slogans condemning the Western position on Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory.

Watch aerial scenes from the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah channel below:

Hundreds of protesters march in Baghdad in solidarity with Gaza

Reporting from the protest in the Iraqi capital, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said demonstrators took to the streets to condemn the “genocide” in Gaza and call for an immediate ceasefire in advance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that starts next week.

One of the protesters said that “it hurts that this demonstration and prayers are all what we can do, but boycotting is a weapon of resistance that all Arab countries should use to support Gaza”.Another demonstrator lamented, “It’s a stigma that the international community is watching and accepting the massacre of innocent civilians”.

“This must stop now,” he said.

It was inevitable, didn't expect it so soon though. But it makes sense with people crowding for Aid drops.

Five people reported dead by airdropped aid after parachute failure

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, says there are reports of at least five people being crushed to death after being hit by aid packages airdropped to Gaza. The parachute that was used to airdrop the aid did not open, causing the boxes to fall on people who were gathering in large numbers to collect the aid, the correspondent said.

Two people were killed on the spot while three were severely injured and later died at Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to initial reports.

“This is the tragedy people are experiencing in the north of Gaza. Not only are they confronted with the lack of food and medical supplies, but as they wait for packages of food they are either targeted by the Israeli military or killed by a non-functional parachute,” Mahmoud said.

UAE says joint mission with Egypt drops 231 tonnes of aid on Gaza

The United Arab Emirates says, in collaboration with the Egyptian Air Forces, it has dropped 62 tonnes of food and medical aid on northern Gaza in the mission’s fifth air drop session.

The total aid dropped since the launch of the joint mission has reached 231 tonnes, a statement on X said.

“It will continue for several weeks and embodies the high level of joint Emirati-Egyptian coordination to support the residents of Gaza,” it added.

231 tonnes, that's 8 to 12 trucks of aid...