London, Thanasis Gavos

The British government’s preference for delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via land routes was expressed in a debate in the House of Lords by Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron, noting the difficulties of delivering cargo directly by sea to the shores of the Palestinian territories.

Responding to questions on Tuesday afternoon, he initially said Britain was looking at every possible aid delivery route.

Regarding the sea route, however, he clarified: “Of course there are sea options and we had a ship leaving Cyprus and getting help in Port Said in Egypt. The so-called option of trying to drop aid into Gaza via the coast is extremely difficult for operational security and other security reasons.”

Regarding the option of airdrops of aid, Lord Cameron referred to similar operations by the French and the Jordanians which proved that the quantities of aid that can be given in this way are smaller than the quantities carried by trucks.

“The truth is that the best way to get aid into Gaza is through trucks. As I have said, 500 trucks a day are required and now 150 are going,” added the British Foreign Secretary.

He concluded by adding that humanitarian aid and financial commitment from countries are available, but what is needed is more trucks, thus permanently open land passages to the Gaza Strip.