Both Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Norwegian People’s Aid are positive about the plans for emergency aid to Gaza by sea and the fact that Israel is asking for hospital ships, but insist on the importance of emergency aid also being brought in across national borders. – We still have to keep the focus on making it easier for emergency aid in large quantities that are on the Egyptian side to come in, says Eide. – Help via sea and hospital ships can contribute something, especially for complicated injuries, but will not really work, Ballestad answers. According to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian health authorities, 9,488 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. On the Israeli side, over 1,400 Israelis have been killed. This is why 16 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are out of service because they lack fuel for power generators, the Ministry of Health said there on Thursday. On the same day, Israel’s ambassador in Germany said that they have asked other countries to send hospital ships that can treat injured Palestinians who are allowed to escape from Gaza across the border to Egypt. Israel is in talks with other countries about getting ships with hospital capacity to treat people from Gaza, the US’s special envoy to the Middle East, David Satterfield, confirmed on Saturday. At the same time, several European and Arab countries are now working to create an emergency aid corridor via the sea to Gaza, writes the AP news agency. France and Cyprus are among the countries that have taken the initiative to send emergency aid via the Cypriot port city of Limassol as soon as conditions in the encircled enclave allowed it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “saw the initiative in a positive light” when he spoke to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides by phone on Tuesday evening, according to the Cypriot president’s spokesperson. Several countries are now working to send emergency aid into Gaza via the sea. Asking Israel to open yet another border crossing With regard to emergency aid via the sea, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) says that the government will consider it carefully when more details come to light and if they are asked to contribute. – We think the easiest thing is to get humanitarian aid in from Egypt via Rafah. Where considerable amounts of humanitarian aid have been collected on the Egyptian side. It is probably the easiest and fastest. But we have nothing against doing something by sea and would very much like to participate in conversations about it if we are invited, says Eide. Norway has so far not received any concrete request from Israel to provide a hospital ship or other help for the treatment of Palestinian citizens from Gaza, he says. At the same time, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is keen to keep the focus on allowing emergency aid from countries that are in large quantities on the Egyptian side of the border to be allowed in. – Israel should also open the Kerem Shalom border crossing (between Israel, Gaza and Egypt jou.note) so that more emergency aid can reach those who need it. This will be the easiest way to scale up the efforts, says Eide. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap). Photo: Amanda Iversen Orlich / news Difficult to replace collapsing hospitals Gry Ballestad of Norwegian People’s Aid believes that supplying electricity, fuel and water to hospitals in Gaza is the only thing that can really help quickly and to the extent that it is needed – in addition to that medicines and medical equipment slip across the border. Hospital ships can have specialized expertise that can be very important to relieve and complement hospitals in Gaza, Ballestad underlines. – But it will be difficult to get enough or large enough ships to be able to replace hospitals that are now collapsing, she says. – In addition, it is very complicated to get a permit to cross the border and it would be irresponsible and very dangerous to evacuate patients in the rain of bombs. Gry Ballestad is head of development and humanitarian cooperation at Norwegian People’s Aid. Photo: Tom Ingebrigtsen – Very difficult, dangerous and burdensome The border crossing from the Gaza Strip to Egypt opened this week for the first time since the war started. More than 200 Norwegians are in Gaza. On Saturday, no Norwegian citizens had been evacuated yet. Norway has an emergency team in Cairo that is ready to help when Norwegian citizens come out of Gaza to Egypt. – The team will be able to print travel documents and assist with arranging transport onward to Norway. There are also health personnel in the team, says Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Norwegian authorities are also collaborating with Nordic countries on a reception center in Cairo, which is ready to help Nordic citizens who come to Cairo. – We continue to work hard to get Norwegian citizens out as soon as possible. The situation in Gaza is very difficult, dangerous and burdensome, says Eide.
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Will use the sea to get emergency aid into Gaza
