A humanitarian corridor allowing aid to be delivered from Cyprus to Gaza by sea is expected to open this weekend, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
"We are now very close to the opening of the corridor, hopefully this Saturday, this Sunday," von der Leyen said at a press conference in Cyprus, accompanied by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
The joint operation by the United States and partners in Europe and the Middle East was announced by US President Joe Biden late on Thursday. It will see a temporary harbour built on the coast of the Gaza Strip, allowing ships to dock.
According to a statement published on Friday, the aid mission is a joint effort between the commission, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States.
"Europe is financing a major humanitarian aid effort for Palestinians in Gaza and in the region - €250 million [$273 million] this year alone," von der Leyen said.
"But the key challenge is to get the aid to the people on the ground in Gaza. And we know the difficulties faced at the land borders in Gaza, be it through the Rafah border crossing or through the Jordan road corridor." That's why a sea mission is necessary, she said.
During his State of the Union address in Washington on Thursday, Biden said, "I'm directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters."
"This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day," Biden said, stressing that "no US boots will be on the ground."
Biden also called on Israel to "allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren't caught in the cross fire."
The latest Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups from Gaza killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, when they attacked southern Israel on October 7, kidnapping some 240 more.
Israel responded by bombing Gaza and launched a ground operation to eliminate Hamas.
So far more than 30,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the fighting, according to the Hamas-run authorities there.
Israel said more aid is now reaching the strip than before the war began.
"In the past two weeks, an average of 102 food shipments have arrived in the Gaza Strip every day. That is almost 50% more than before Hamas started the war on October 7," government spokesman Eylon Levy said.
There was a "flood of false reports" that Israel was restricting the amount of aid deliveries, he said. "There are no restrictions. I repeat: none."
Israel is even encouraging donor states to send as much food, water, medicine and shelter equipment as they want, he said on Wednesday.
But a UN spokesman said it is not enough to count the number of lorries crossing border posts as the loads had to be transferred to smaller lorries then distributed in Gaza.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) meanwhile said only half of the 224 aid convoys planned for February reached the areas for which they were intended, and that Israeli support was lacking for the remaining deliveries.