No aid left in secure area where Gaza jetty was anchored
There is now no humanitarian aid from Cyprus left in the secure area on the beach in Gaza where the temporary jetty was once anchored, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Abeer Etefa confirmed on Monday.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Etefa said that while the WFP’s operations relating to the jetty remain suspended, an “exceptional one-off operation” was carried out in the last few days to remove the remaining aid shipped from Larnaca airport on the beach.
“The supplies were cleared from the beach and there is nothing new coming in. It was all cleared out, and has now gone for distribution,” she said.
The WFP had paused its distribution of humanitarian aid from the jetty, which was constructed to facilitate the delivery of aid sent via Cyprus, four weeks ago, with its executive director Cindy McCain saying she was “concerned about the safety of our people” following an Israeli military operation in the area which reportedly killed over 200 Palestinians.
She added that two of the WFP’s warehouses nearby had been “rocketed”.
“We have stepped back for the moment, to make sure that we are on safe terms and on safe ground before we will restart,” she said, adding that the WFP is continuing its distribution of humanitarian aid in other parts of Gaza.
The WFP had then launched a review into the safety or otherwise of its aid workers in Gaza, with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths issuing warnings about the review’s potential findings.
“You can be damn sure we are going to be very careful about what we assess and what we conclude,” he said, adding that any finding that the Israel Defence Forces used the secure beach next to the jetty or the roads around it would “put at risk any future humanitarian engagement” connected to the jetty.
Etefa was even more categorical about the WFP’s current stance on the issue when speaking to the Cyprus Mail on Monday.
“If more supplies come in [via the jetty], we will not pick them up,” she said.
The WFP’s position notwithstanding, the future of Cyprus’ Amalthea plan, its humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza, is still up in the air, with the latest information on the ground suggesting that the jetty is still not back in place after its most recent removal.
The Cyprus Mail was unable to gain confirmation from the Cypriot foreign ministry nor the United States’ department of defence regarding the jetty’s status, though Etefa said that while she was unable to say with certainty, it is still in Ashdod and “dismantled”.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh had said a week ago that the jetty had been removed from its position in Gaza and taken to Ashdod for a third time.
“The status of the jetty right now, as you know, it was disconnected … It was moved to Ashdod for the high sea states. The jetty remains in Ashdod right now. We are still assessing when it can be re-anchored when sea states calm a bit,” she said.
Since then, she has made no further comment on the matter, with the jetty having only been usable for a total of 12 days since first being put into place on May 17.
It had been removed due to anticipated rough seas off the coast of Gaza.