The EU is expecting full investigation by the Israeli authorities of the attack against staff of NGO World Central Kitchen, as well as measures to be taken so that such an incident doesn’t happen again, the European Commission’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, Peter Stano, said during Tuesday’s briefing in Brussels.
During the same briefing, spokesperson on humanitarian aid, Balazs Ujvari, asked whether the incident affects the maritime humanitarian corridor and overall humanitarian efforts by the EU, pointed out that the future of the corridor is an operational question for the Cypriot authorities. He recalled that the EU has sent five experts in the region, of which three are civil protection experts and two are liaisons to the crisis management centre of the EU and to the Cypriot authorities, respectively.
Stano said that this was a ‘very tragic event’ and, responding to a question on the response of the Israeli authorities so far, he added that contacts are taking place via the EU delegation as well as
member state embassies in the country.
The call for information, he added, is directed ‘to those who bear ultimate responsibility’, which in this case are the Israeli authorities.
During the same briefing and responding to questions on whether WCK’s decision to suspend its work in Gaza and how this would affect the maritime humanitarian corridor, the Commission spokesperson on humanitarian aid, Balazs Ujvari pointed out that this humanitarian organisation has an important role in the region, but is not one of the humanitarian partners of the EU.
Ujvari explained that humanitarian aid by the EU is sent through such partners as the World Food Program, the Red Cross, UNICEF and UNRWA. The maritime corridor, he added is a separate initiative that the EU supports with other partners such as the UK, the US and the UAE. Commenting on whether the recent event could slow down the flow of aid via the sea, the spokesperson pointed out that how the ships are organised concerns primarily the Cypriot authorities who are
in the lead.
Commission spokesperson on migration, Anita Hipper, was asked to comment on the latest arrival of primarily Syrian refugees and asylum seekers to Cyprus from Lebanon via the sea. Hipper said that the aim of the EU is to manage migration in a ‘more humane and effective way’. This, she added is done through the legislative track and the new pact on migration and asylum, which is expected to be approved soon by the European Parliament, and also through operational and targeted measures for the member states, including the Eastern Mediterranean migration route which includes Cyprus.
Source: Cyprus News Agency