Gaza needs at least 500 aid trucks daily: EU

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, reaffirmed on Thursday that the Gaza Strip must receive aid in the amount of at least 500 trucks or equivalent per day.  

Von der Leyen wrote in a post on the "X" platform that increasing the supply of aid to Gaza through all channels, including extended land routes, requires the maritime corridor to be a part of an ongoing endeavor.  

President Joe Biden revealed on March 8 during his "State of the Union" speech that he had given the military orders to build a temporary port close to Gaza's coast and that more humanitarian aid would reach Gaza via the port.  

On the same day, President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, announced during a joint press conference with President of the European Commission Von der Leyen, the imminent opening of a maritime passage for the transportation of humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

In another development, Arab and Western ministers issued a statement on Thursday stating that there is no alternative to land routes for delivering aid to Gaza. The statement emphasized that land routes through Egypt and Jordan, as well as the crossings between Israel and Gaza, are the best alternative for delivering aid on a large scale. 

The joint statement, published by the US Department of State on its website, followed a ministerial meeting attended by foreign ministers of the United States, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, and Britain, in addition to the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič. 

The statement stressed that Israel should necessarily open additional crossings to facilitate the delivery of more aid to Gaza, especially in the northern part of the Strip, and to ease customs restrictions to facilitate the increased flow of life-saving humanitarian aid. 

The statement affirmed that the opening of the Ashdod port for humanitarian aid would be welcomed and would complement the ongoing work to establish the maritime corridor. 

The attending ministers also discussed the possibility of establishing a joint fund to support the maritime corridor for delivering aid to Gaza and to coordinate material and financial contributions to sustain its operations. 

Blinken, the secretary of state, stated in a press conference on Wednesday that Israel needs to open more land crossings to guarantee the ongoing delivery of supplies to Gaza because the sea operations currently in place are insufficient.  

In related news, the US military declared on Wednesday that a portion of its ships was en route to Gaza in order to create a makeshift port and provide relief supplies to the beleaguered region. 

This year's holy month of Ramadan has begun, and the people living in the Gaza Strip particularly in the northern part of the Strip are in danger of going hungry since there is a serious shortage of fuel, food, water, and medical supplies. This is made worse by the fact that more than two million Palestinians have been forced to leave the Strip due to the genocide waged by Israel on Gaza for the sixth consecutive month.