The European Council on Friday night offered its support for Cyprus’ Amalthea humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza, calling on the State of Israel to “allow immediate, unimpeded access and sustained distribution” of aid transported both from Cyprus and elsewhere into the strip.
In its list of conclusions issued at the end of this week’s summit of the leaders of the European Union’s 27 member states in Brussels, it said that it “reiterates its grave concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank”,
This, it said, includes “the persistent and devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which risks worsening as winter approaches”.
In addition to its call upon Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the strip, it called on the country’s authorities to “allow access for international media” and to “reopen Gaza border crossings and the medical corridor between Gaza and the West Bank”.
“Israel must enable the United Nations and its agencies, and humanitarian organisations, to work independently and impartially to save lives and reduce suffering, and comply with all its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law,” it said.
It added that “the protection of civilians must be ensured at all times”.
Later in its conclusions, the council also said it “underlines the importance of continued diplomatic presence in the occupied Palestinian territories, including that of EU member states, in order to engage with the Palestinian authority and thereby contribute to the two-state solution”.
More than 37,000 tonnes of aid sent so far via Amalthea corridor
Cyprus is one of 17 EU member states which maintains a representative office in Ramallah, in the West Bank, while six EU member states maintain consulates-general in East Jerusalem, where the EU itself also has a representative office.
The foreign ministry said in August that more than 37,000 tonnes of aid had been “dispatched and delivered to the civilian population of Gaza” as part of the Amalthea corridor in the almost three years since it was launched, though the project has had a mixed history.
Sigrid Kaag, for example, the one-time UN senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, said in 2024 that the Amalthea project could “never be a substitute” for aid deliveries made by land.
Aid is typically sent via the Israeli port of Ashdod, and with its transfer has been more stable in recent months following the dismantling of a temporary jetty which had initially been used to transfer aid directly to Gaza.
At a summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in October last year, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides had reportedly included the Amalthea initiative as part of a multi-point plan for how Cyprus can aid in the “implementation and realisation” of United States President Donald Trump’s plan for the future of Gaza.
It was reported at the time that his plan stated that “the mechanisms and procedures which have been developed within the framework of Amalthea for fast-track security checks in Cyprus are usable for the next phase and can offer important solutions”.
Christodoulides returned from that summit speaking of “six initiatives the Republic of Cyprus can undertake” based on Trump’s then 20-point plan for Gaza’s future.
Shortly afterwards, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos had said that Cyprus would seek to offer “operational support” for international efforts to ensure peace in and reconstruct Gaza.
The government, he said, had “proposed an applied contribution model which has already been codified in six operational pillars, building on the successful implementation of the Amalthea plan”.