UN Says Maritime Corridor to Gaza No Substitute for Aid Delivery by Land

Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charitable youth group before breakfast, on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, 12 March 2024. (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charitable youth group before breakfast, on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, 12 March 2024. (EPA)
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UN Says Maritime Corridor to Gaza No Substitute for Aid Delivery by Land

Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charitable youth group before breakfast, on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, 12 March 2024. (EPA)
Displaced Palestinians gather to collect food donated by a charitable youth group before breakfast, on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, 12 March 2024. (EPA)

Senior United Nations officials on Tuesday welcomed the opening of a maritime corridor from Cyprus to deliver additional aid to the Gaza Strip, but said it could not replace the delivery of humanitarian assistance by land.

"For aid delivery at scale, there is no meaningful substitute to the many land routes and entry points from Israel into Gaza. The land routes from Egypt, Rafah in particular, and Jordan also remain essential to the overall humanitarian effort," said UN Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag and UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva.

"The maritime corridor brings, however, much needed additionality and is part of a sustained humanitarian response to provide aid as effectively as possible through all possible routes," they said.



Lebanese Army Says Israeli Drone Targets Military Bulldozer at Army Base

Destroyed buildings in an area of the village of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon, located next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings in an area of the village of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon, located next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanese Army Says Israeli Drone Targets Military Bulldozer at Army Base

Destroyed buildings in an area of the village of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon, located next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP)
Destroyed buildings in an area of the village of Odaisseh in southern Lebanon, located next to the Israeli-Lebanese border, as seen from northern Israel, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP)

An Israeli drone targeted a Lebanese military bulldozer while it was carrying out fortification work inside the Al-Abbara military base near Lebanon's border with Syria, the Lebanese army said on Monday.

One soldier was wounded, it said.

Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah started implementing a ceasefire last Wednesday as part of a US-proposed deal for a 60-day truce to end more than a year of hostilities.

The accord cleared the way for an end to a conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.