The Israel Today newspaper revealed the true objectives of the sea corridor being established from Cyprus to the northern coast of Gaza, currently being established to transport humanitarian aid into the Strip.
The corridor will bring several benefits to Israel and ease international pressure on it to end to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper explained.
It reported an Israeli political source as saying that Israel hopes to achieve several of its goals through the sea corridor, including replacing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) with another organization that will be responsible for distributing food.
The source stated that the corridor will reduce international pressure on Israel for denying food to the people of Gaza, and alleviate Israel’s responsibility to bring in humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
These goals also include depriving the government administration affiliated with Hamas from the ability to feed the Gaza population thus lifting its grip on the Strip, and displaying the complexity of “transporting supplies to Gaza” to the Americans responsible for the corridor project.
Israel will allocate the minimum number of its forces necessary to operate the project so as not to harm the war effort.
The Israeli politician confirmed to the newspaper that although providing aid to Gaza angers the Israeli public, it ultimately benefits Israel’s military efforts.
He added that the Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet) is currently establishing a comprehensive inspection system for the contents of shipments to ensure that they do not contain weapons that could be used by the Hamas movement.
Joint US-Israel cooperation
Israel Today said that teams from Israel and the US are currently working to coordinate on how the sea corridor project will work to transport aid to Gaza from Cyprus, with some of its components having already been agreed upon.
According to current plans the project’s experimental first phase will see between 10 and 20 trucks per day, with food supplies destined for Gaza to be transported to a designated dock in the Cypriot port of Larnaca.
Following their arrival, the trucks loaded with food will be transported to distribution points in Gaza Strip.
The report explained that the new pier is currently being constructed on the northern coast of the Gaza Strip so that it can receive ships.
It added that after completing the inspection, the shipments will be transferred to a ship capable of anchoring in the shallow waters of the Gaza coast.
Israel Today indicated that at this stage arrangements have not yet been put in place regarding the supervision of the ships to ensure that they are not hijacked during sailing hours by Iran or other parties for smuggling.
The newspaper said that Israel will work to verify that Hamas members are not the ones who will receive aid shipments coming from Cyprus.
The US military has appointed an international non-governmental organization called “World Central Kitchen” to operate food supplies for the residents of Gaza, it added.
