Cyprus Plans to Send Humanitarian Aid Directly to Gaza by Ship, to Be Received by UN

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, center, talks to the media as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart listens to him, after their meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at presidential palace in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Lacroix is in Cyprus for three-day visit. (AP)
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, center, talks to the media as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart listens to him, after their meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at presidential palace in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Lacroix is in Cyprus for three-day visit. (AP)
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Cyprus Plans to Send Humanitarian Aid Directly to Gaza by Ship, to Be Received by UN

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, center, talks to the media as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart listens to him, after their meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at presidential palace in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Lacroix is in Cyprus for three-day visit. (AP)
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, center, talks to the media as the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in Cyprus Colin Stewart listens to him, after their meeting with Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides at presidential palace in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Lacroix is in Cyprus for three-day visit. (AP)

Cyprus offered more detail Wednesday on its initiative to create a sea corridor for the steady flow of humanitarian assistance from Cyprus to Gaza, saying that aid-laden ships would sail directly to the enclave, where United Nations personnel would receive it for eventual distribution.

Cyprus government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “saw the initiative in a positive light” during a long telephone conversation Tuesday evening with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

Cyprus is still sketching out with fellow European Union member countries and Arab states the logistical details of its plan to ferry aid from its main port of Limassol to Gaza once conditions on the ground permit it.

Ships would be vetted at the point of departure at the Limassol port to ensure that nothing would be transported that could be weaponized by Hamas to use against Israel.

Gaza’s humanitarian needs have escalated since the Israel-Hamas war erupted following the Palestinian militant group’s surprise Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that left nearly 1,400 Israelis dead and at least 240 people taken hostage. Israel retaliated with a military operation that has so far left over 8,000 Palestinians dead.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that UN officials “are actively working so that more humanitarian assistance can be delivered to the population of Gaza.”

Lacroix said it’s up to the parties to decide the best way to ensure that the aid reaches those who need it most.

“But I can assure you that the determination to work actively in that direction is there from the UN,” Lacroix told reporters after talks with Christodoulides in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia.

The UN official said the Cypriot initiative is “highly appreciated” by the world body.



ICC Opens Inquiry into Hungary for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
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ICC Opens Inquiry into Hungary for Failing to Arrest Netanyahu

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest earlier this month. (AFP)

Judges at the International Criminal Court want Hungary to explain why it failed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Budapest earlier this month.

In a filing released late Wednesday, The Hague-based court initiated non-compliance proceedings against Hungary after the country gave Netanyahu a red carpet welcome despite an ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

During the visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced his country would quit the court, claiming on state radio that the ICC was “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”

The Hungarian leader, regarded by critics as an autocrat and the EU’s most intransigent spoiler in the bloc’s decision-making, defended his decision to not arrest Netanyahu.

“We signed an international treaty, but we never took all the steps that would otherwise have made it enforceable in Hungary,” Orbán said at the time, referring to the fact that Hungary’s parliament never promulgated the court’s statute into Hungarian law.

Judges at the ICC have previously dismissed similar arguments.

The ICC and other international organizations have criticized Hungary’s defiance of the warrant against Netanyahu. Days before his arrival, the president of the court’s oversight body wrote to the government in Hungary reminding it of its “specific obligation to comply with requests from the court for arrest and surrender.”

A spokesperson for the ICC declined to comment on the non-compliance proceedings.

Hungary’s decision to leave the ICC, a process that will take at least a year to complete, will make it the sole non-signatory within the 27-member European Union. With 125 current signatory countries, only the Philippines and Burundi have ever withdrawn from the court as Hungary intends.

Hungary has until May 23 to submit evidence in its defense.