The departure of the ship “Open Arms” belonging to the Spanish aid organization of the same name, which is loaded with aid supplies for the Gaza Strip, has been delayed. Due to “technical issues”, the ship will probably only leave the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday morning, reports the Cypriot Radio (RIK). According to the Cypriot government in Nicosia, the ship, which is supposed to tow a cargo platform, is carrying around 200 tons of drinking water and medicine.
It is a test drive along the route of a planned aid corridor that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulidis announced last Friday. Von der Leyen had previously inspected the facilities in the port that the small EU republic provides for aid deliveries from various states and organizations.
Larnaca is around 400 kilometers from Gaza. Experts estimate that the journey there will take at least 48 hours. This route is not without danger: strong winds often blow in the eastern Mediterranean.
Port not deep enough for freighters
The “Open Arms” – a converted tug – pulls a platform behind it. This is where most of the relief supplies are located. The EU island republic of Cyprus will be responsible until the point the ship leaves Cypriot territorial waters. “The ship will then be monitored by satellites and radars of other actors,” said the government spokesman to the dpa.
It is unclear where and how the ship will unload its cargo after arriving in the waters off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Delivering the goods is considered a major challenge because there is only a small fishing port that is not deep enough for cargo ships. The US military therefore wants to set up a temporary port together with international partners, but according to the US, its construction will take two months.
The humanitarian situation of the people in the Gaza Strip has been worsening dramatically for weeks. The bare necessities are missing. The Gaza war was triggered by a massacre carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7th.
Biden: Don’t allow another 30,000 deaths
Despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations, Israel is pressing ahead with preparations for a ground offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza to destroy the remaining Hamas battalions and free suspected hostages there. In the city that borders Egypt, 1.5 million desperate Palestinians are currently seeking protection in a confined space from the fighting in other areas of the sealed-off coastal area.
It should not be allowed that another 30,000 Palestinians die as a result of the action against Hamas, Biden warned in the interview when asked whether a ground offensive in Rafah represented a red line for him. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far. According to media reports, tens of thousands of people called for an immediate ceasefire at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Paris and London.
Biden also made specific comments about Benjamin Netanyahu’s personality: “He harms Israel more than he helps Israel.” The Israeli head of government has the right to defend Israel and to continue fighting the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But he must “pay greater attention to innocent lives,” said the US President, considering the high number of civilian casualties caused by the war in the coastal strip.
Netanyahu again rejected the allegations. In an interview for Bild, Welt TV and “Politico” at his official residence in Jerusalem, he said: “If the US President means that I am pursuing a private policy against the wishes of the majority of Israelis and that this harms Israel’s interests, then he is wrong wrong on both counts.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is pushing for a longer-lasting ceasefire in the Gaza war. “It’s best to do it during Ramadan,” said the SPD politician in a video message. “Such a ceasefire should ensure that the Israeli hostages are finally released and that more humanitarian aid finally arrives in Gaza,” emphasized Scholz. He is sure that the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians want peace.
Secret service: Hamas wants to set fire to region in Ramadan
However, according to the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad, Hamas is currently not interested in a ceasefire. Rather, the Islamist organization is striving to “set the (Middle East) region on fire in Ramadan,” said Mossad chief David Barnea in a statement that the Prime Minister’s Office has now published.
At the same time, Israel remains in contact with the mediators USA, Qatar and Egypt and is cooperating with them, it said. “We have not declared that the negotiations have been stopped,” said Husam Badran, a member of the Islamist organization’s political bureau, to the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal”.
According to the newspaper, talks will continue in Cairo today. The Arab negotiators planned to push for an initially shorter ceasefire of two days at the start of Ramadan. The month of fasting, a particularly holy time for Muslims, is expected to begin on Sunday evening.
Thousands demonstrate against Netanyahu in Israel
Netanyahu is also under pressure at home. Thousands of people demonstrated in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities for the release of the hostages from Hamas and against Netanyahu’s government. Near the headquarters of the Defense Ministry, police stopped protesters from blocking a city highway, Israeli media reported. The authorities arrested 16 people. In Caesarea, a large crowd gathered in front of Netanyahu’s private villa. One of the speakers, a former general, said of the head of government: “Your policy is aimed at only one thing: staying in power at all costs, and the war serves your purposes perfectly.”
Suspects arrested in East Jerusalem
According to their own statements, Israel’s police also arrested 20 residents from the Arab-dominated eastern part of Jerusalem in the past two weeks. The suspects are accused of supporting or inciting terrorism, the police said. Increasingly, hate speech and fake news are currently being spread on the Internet in order to disrupt the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and destabilize the region.
Israel’s police say they want to “enable the safe observance of Ramadan prayers on the Temple Mount while ensuring security in the area.” The month of fasting begins on Monday in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
