Blinken Discussed the Creation of a Maritime Aid Corridor for Gaza in Cyprus

Officials in Cyprus revealed that "U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a brief stop in their country today, where he discussed a Cypriot proposal to establish a maritime aid corridor for the Palestinian Gaza Strip." Blinken made an unannounced stop at Larnaca Airport while en route to Turkey as part of a regional tour. He met on his plane with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis stated in a statement that "the meeting addressed ongoing developments in the Middle East, as well as Cyprus's proposal concerning the establishment of a one-way maritime corridor to continuously send humanitarian aid from Cyprus to civilians in Gaza." Cyprus is in talks with neighboring countries in the Middle East and its European Union partners to create the corridor, which will only be used to send humanitarian aid. Cyprus is the closest EU member state to the Middle East.