Further to the Joint Statements
of March 8 and March 14 2024, a senior officials’ meeting for technical
discussions was convened earlier today in Cyprus, aiming to accelerate the
“Amalthea Plan” to deliver much-needed additional amounts of humanitarian assistance
by sea to Gaza.
This is to complement and is no
substitute to all existing routes, in particular through Rafah, Egypt, and
Jordan, and entry points from Israel into Gaza for aid delivery at scale. The
opening of Ashdod port to humanitarian assistance would be welcomed and a
significant complement to the corridor.
During the technical meeting,
the United Nations (UN) Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator
for Gaza, Ms Sigrid Kaag, who is in charge of facilitating, coordinating,
monitoring, and verifying the flow of aid into Gaza, under UN Security Council
Resolution 2720 (2023), also presented the way in which the maritime route
can be one of the many entry points needed to scale up assistance into Gaza,
including the UN mechanism and the prospect of setting up a Secretariat.
At today’s meeting, over
thirty-five countries and several international agencies deliberated on
technical aspects with the aim of scaling up capacity as well as flexible
funding modalities. Towards this end, the “Amalthea Fund”, to which parties
can contribute, was announced, and the possibility of a UN-managed
multi-donor fund was discussed. Further deliberations with core partners will
follow in the coming days.
The participants also
reaffirmed that protecting civilian lives is a key element of international
humanitarian law that must be respected and that together we must all do more
to ensure aid gets to people who desperately need it.
(MP/MS/IA)
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