She welcomed Tuesday’s launch of the initiative, which brought together the efforts of Cyprus, the European Commission, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and others.

However, Kaag assured that there is no meaningful substitute for delivering aid at scale from Israel’s numerous land routes and entry points into Gaza.

The routes from Egypt -Rafah in particular- and Jordan also remain essential to the overall humanitarian effort, the diplomat added in a statement released here, which was further inked by the head of the UN Office for Project Services, Jorge Moreira da Silva.

The maritime corridor provides a much-needed additional way and is part of a sustained humanitarian response to deliver aid in the most effective way through all possible routes, the statement added.

The UN estimates that 300 truckloads of food are needed every day to meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza. However, operations on the ground are constrained by bans and controls by the Israeli authorities.

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