The UK will join the US and other allies to create a maritime corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza, the Foreign Secretary has said.
US President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address on Thursday to announce that American troops would establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast aimed at increasing the flow of aid into the territory.
The move follows mounting concern about the level of aid getting into Gaza over land, with international bodies warning of an impending famine if current restrictions continue.
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On Friday, Lord Cameron said the UK would be working with the US to provide aid by sea.
He tweeted: “People in Gaza are in desperate humanitarian need.
“Alongside the US, the UK and partners have announced we will open a maritime corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza.
“We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it.”
The UK contribution to the maritime corridor is not expected to involve the deployment of British personnel.
Downing Street said on Friday the UK had been involved in planning and surveying for the pontoon and would now be “working with partners to operationalise our maritime aid corridor from Cyprus”.
In a joint statement with the US, the European Commission, the UAE and Cyprus, the UK described the situation in Gaza as “dire”.
According to the statement, Cyprus had taken the lead on establishing a mechanism for sending aid to Gaza by sea securely, which the partners would now build on to deliver “significant aid”, working in conjunction with the UN’s senior humanitarian and reconstruction co-ordinator for Gaza.
The statement said: “The delivery of humanitarian assistance directly to Gaza by sea will be complex, and our nations will continue to assess and adjust our efforts to ensure we deliver aid as effectively as possible.
“This maritime corridor can, and must, be part of a sustained effort to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and commercial commodities into Gaza through all possible routes.
“We will continue to work with Israel to expand deliveries by land, insisting that it facilitate more routes and open additional crossings to get more aid to more people.
“We affirm that protecting civilian lives is a key element of international humanitarian law that must be respected. And together, we must all do more to ensure aid gets to people who desperately need it.”
British aid packages have previously been air-dropped into Gaza in a joint operation with the Jordanian military, and the Government has continued to work on finding alternative routes for supplies to reach the territory.
The UK Government has also called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting to enable aid to get into Gaza and hostages held by Hamas to be released.
Last week, the Commons International Development Committee warned that a famine in Gaza would be unavoidable without changes to allow more aid to get into the region.
The cross-party committee said any ceasefire of less than 30 days would not be enough to get sufficient food into Gaza, while US vice-president Kamala Harris has suggested a six-week ceasefire is within reach.
