Greek Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Arrives in Egypt

Greek humanitarian aid arrived at Egypt’s El Arish airport with the Gaza Strip as its final destination.

The cargo of humanitarian aid, which was provided by the non-governmental organizations Médecins du Monde Greece and International Humanitarian Aid Foundation, includes a fully equipped reception and primary care unit as well as personal hygiene items and first aid supplies.

The humanitarian aid was transported via Ostend on a cargo aircraft in the context of the EU Humanitarian Air Bridge.

📌 Aποστολή 🇬🇷 ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας στη Γάζα

Με μέριμνα του @GreeceMFA αφίχθη σήμερα στο αεροδρόμιο El Arish της Αιγύπτου ελληνική ανθρωπιστική βοήθεια με τελικό προορισμό τη Λωρίδα της Γάζας.

🔗 https://t.co/LnnRtAsW9H pic.twitter.com/zYXq50gmuN

— Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών (@GreeceMFA) December 28, 2023

This humanitarian aid follows the first Greek dispatch of pharmaceutical and medical supplies for the civilian population of Gaza, which were transported on a C-130 aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force on November 6, 2023.

The plane was loaded with essential supplies, including food, drinking water, and medicine, and was distributed to unarmed civilians in Gaza.

Aid to Gaza becomes increasingly difficult

The arrival of Greek aid comes as the United Nations warned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get desperately needed aid into Gaza.

“You think getting aid into Gaza is easy? Think again,” Martin Griffiths said in a post on the social media platform X, expressing frustration at how life-saving assistance is being hampered from entering the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Griffiths listed fourteen obstructions to getting humanitarian relief into the enclave, including constant bombardments and aid convoys coming under fire; three layers of inspections before an aid truck can enter the Palestinian territory; a constant list of rejected items; and aid workers themselves being killed and displaced by the war.

“This is an impossible situation…The fighting must stop,” he said.

On Friday, the UN’s humanitarian aid chief called out the “impossible situation” facing people in Gaza and those trying to help them, as the humanitarian situation on the ground worsens and dozens more civilians are reported dead in Israeli attacks.

The sea corridor is the best way to transfer aid to Gaza

However, airlifting aid to Gaza is not an effective way to help the local population. There has been an increasing diplomatic push to use ships, as they could deliver five hundred times more aid than trucks.

Many countries are keen to create a sea corridor between Cyprus and the besieged Strip. It was an idea proposed by Nicosia and warmly embraced by Greece.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides recently said that official announcements on the inauguration of the aid corridor could be made soon. Christodoulides first proposed opening a maritime corridor to help deliver more aid to Gaza in early November.

He said the operations center would be based in the southern Cypriot city of Larnaca, where there is a port and airport and where a coordination center with thirty-three countries is already in place.

The port’s capacity would be two hundred thousand tons of humanitarian aid, enabling two thousand tons of aid transfers per vessel. Humanitarian aid would arrive in Cyprus and be sent on vessels checked daily by a joint committee, including Israel, he said.

Earlier in December, the humanitarian corridor from Cyprus to Gaza was inaugurated with the sailing of a ship loaded with eighty tons of aid for Gaza. The British Royal Navy’s “Lyme Bay” set sail from the port of Larnaca. It was escorted by British navy warships towards an Israeli port.

A CyBC report said the aid sent to Gaza was comprised mostly of tents donated by Britain to which several tons of aid offered by Cyprus were added.