Shapps, who flew to south Cyprus, met with Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas to try and reassure them that the island was not in any danger.
Referring to the fact that military jets had been deployed from RAF Akrotiri to attack Houthi targets in Yemen, Shapps said, “The Houthis’ weapons are not a direct threat to Cyprus, they cannot even reach Israel.
“We assess that you are in a difficult area and we want to do what we can to make it easier”.
Regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, Shapps expressed his appreciation of the Greek Cypriot “Amaltheia” initiative (delivery of humanitarian aid by sea from Larnaca to Gaza). He said that they are examining all options to deliver maximum aid to Gaza more directly. Recalling that one of the ways for this is to deliver aid directly via the “Kerem Shalom” passage instead of Egypt, but this also has its difficulties, he said, “It is necessary to work in a very organised manner, but a much larger volume of aid must be delivered much more quickly“.
Shapps thanked the Greek Cypriot administration for making a significant contribution to the delivery of aid to the Palestinians, far exceeding the amount that could be transported by plane, and said: “The United Kingdom and Cyprus recently thanked the 87-year-old Royal Navy ship “Lyme Bay” for negotiating in a way that would allow this to be possible. “tons of humanitarian aid were delivered“, he said.
Shapps stated that he had exceptional meetings with Greek Cypriot Administration President Nikos Christodulidis and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas regarding the major events taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean and said, “It makes sense for us to cooperate very closely for the defence and security of everyone“.
