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A major humanitarian operation to provide Gaza with aid coming from western ships has been proposed by European powers.
France, the Netherlands and Britain are understood to be making plans to move urgently needed food and medicine into the embattled territory via their fleets already stationed in the Mediterranean.
The plan is being driven by President Emmanuel Macron of France along with Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, after they returned from trips to Israel last week.
Downing Street also confirmed to The National that discussions on humanitarian aid had been held between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Mr Macron on Sunday, in which they stressed “the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support into Gaza”.
Both countries have warships in the area but also auxiliary supply vessels that will be well stocked with food, medicine and emergency medical supplies.
The sea aid would require a significant diplomatic effort as Israel and Hamas would have to be persuaded to pause the fighting to allow the enclave’s only viable port in Gaza city to open.
Were that achieved, it would allow for British and French naval support vessels to ship aid in and potentially evacuate the seriously wounded on to hospital ships.
The 16,000-tonne RFA Lyme Bay, one of two British ships stationed in the Mediterranean, can carry 150 lorries and at least 200 tonnes of supplies.
It is accompanied by RFA Argus, which has 100 hospital beds and a landing deck with capacity for three helicopters.
They are joined by the French helicopter carrier Tonerre that also has a hospital with two operating rooms, 69 beds and a large stockpile of army rations.
It is understood that unlike the onerous checks at the Rafah crossing, where only 131 lorries have been allowed through since the war broke out on October 7, European naval vessels will not require vigorous inspections by the Israelis.
Many patients in Gaza, where about 8,800 people have been killed according the Hamas-run Health Ministry, have been undergoing operations without anaesthetic. The Gaza Strip is also running extremely short of food, water and fuel, with more than one million people living without basic necessities.
Charlotte Leslie, director of the Conservative Middle East Council, told The National the proposal was a “very welcome step” as “the humanitarian crisis from Israeli bombing is simply catastrophic”.
“But we all urgently need to find a political way to end the civilian casualties because this current military response, while an understandable reaction by Israel to the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas, is not making anyone safer,” added the former Conservative MP.
However, some in Whitehall have criticised the move, calling it “aid washing” and hypocritical, after the West largely gave Israel unqualified backing for its military operations in Gaza.
“We have to set this against the context of what could constitute war crimes by Israel,” said a political source in Whitehall. “It may be that we expect our efforts to be greeted with open arms and white saviours but to be honest it looks like absolute hypocrisy and aid washing. It might do some good on the ground but it won't do very much good unless there is an absolute step change in how Israel manages the Hamas threat.”
Gideon Rabinowitz, a director at Bond, the UK network for NGOs, said it was critical for European countries to "negotiate safe routes to get these materials to civilians in Gaza".
He added: "Given the level of destruction it is clear that multiple routes will be needed, including possibly by sea."
Kajsa Ollongren, the Dutch Defence Minister, told the Financial Times that “the sea is, of course, a possibility" for sending aid. She added that European powers could bring “an element of trust because it is co-ordinated by countries that Israel is in contact with and could rely on that it is really about humanitarian aid”.
Israeli officials have indicated they might accept the maritime aid if they could establish a method of verifying precisely what is unloaded from the ships.
