The Gaza Strip is facing serious food shortages due to Israeli military operations, and European Union President von der Leyen says she hopes to begin transporting relief supplies by sea, which she has been coordinating with the United States and other countries, as early as this weekend. I showed my thoughts.
Countries have been dropping supplies from the air to the Gaza Strip, where Israel's military operations continue, but serious food shortages remain unresolved, and senior officials at the U.S. White House have announced new plans to transport supplies by sea. It shows the policy we are aiming for.
On the 8th, EU Commissioner von der Leyen, who is working with the United States and other countries to realize maritime transport, visited the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus and met with President Hristodoulidis.
Since last November, as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened, Cyprus has been gathering aid supplies at the port of Larnaca in the southeast and planning to send them by ship to the Gaza Strip, approximately 400 kilometers across the Mediterranean Sea. The two also toured port facilities.
At a subsequent joint press conference, Chairman von der Leyen said, ``We are very close to establishing a sea route,'' and said that a trial operation would be carried out on the 8th, and that supplies could be shipped to the Gaza Strip from the sea as early as the 9th. I expressed my desire to start shipping.
As fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, the focus is on quickly delivering relief supplies.