Israel green-lights Cypriot aid plan for Palestinians as military pounds Gaza – POLITICO

Israel will allow ships from several European countries to deliver aid directly to war-torn Gaza, the country’s top diplomat said Sunday, as the Israeli military ramped up large-scale air attacks across central Gaza.

Ships from countries including France, Greece, the Netherlands and the U.K. can “immediately” start shipping aid packages via a proposed sea corridor that goes through Cyprus, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told local radio on Sunday. The measure could mean a partial lifting of Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza, first imposed in 2007 after the Hamas militant group took control of the Palestinian enclave.

Under the plan, originally proposed by Nicosia last month, ships would travel to Cyprus for security checks before heading 370 kilometers to Gaza’s coast in a route that would avoid Egyptian or Israeli borders. Paris, Athens, Amsterdam and London have yet to officially comment on the plan, though the U.K. and Greece have previously indicated they would support the measure.

The announcement comes after the U.N. Security Council earlier this month demanded that Israel guarantee “immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale” to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israeli jets stepped up air strikes on Maghazi and Bureij in the center of Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 35 people, including former Religious Affairs Minister for the Palestinian Authority Youssef Salama, according to local media and hospital officials.

Israel has said it would keep fighting until it eliminates Hamas after the militant group launched a surprise attack on the country in early October, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. Israel has said it has killed 8,000 Hamas fighters so far in its military offensive.

Despite growing international pressure for a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said the war would continue for “many more months.”

Cohen, the foreign minister, said on Sunday that the “government bears responsibility” for failing to prevent the attack, and suggested an independent inquiry commission should be set up after the war.

Almost 22,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military response, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, 70 percent of whom are women and children — while 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced.