How to get humanitarian aid to Gaza? Friday, October 27 saw the 27 member states convened at the European Council, where they reiterated their concern "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in the Palestinian enclave. They asked, without specifying to whom, that "humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need, including through humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs."

To this end, the European Union (EU) will work with "partners in the region to: protect civilians, ensure that assistance is not abused by terrorist organizations, facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter," it says in the summit conclusions.

However, in practical terms, the Europeans have not outlined a clear strategy for delivering aid to the Palestinians. This challenge remains, given the ongoing land and sea blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip and the infrequent operation of the sole access point to the outside world, located at Rafah on the Egyptian border. Emmanuel Macron has put forward the idea of crossing by sea. At his press conference, the French president spoke of a project for a "maritime humanitarian corridor" to be set up by a "humanitarian coalition with several European countries, in particular, Cyprus, which will serve as a rear base". Greece, he said, was ready to "send equipment."

The Tonnerre, a French navy helicopter carrier, is due to arrive by the end of the weekend not far from Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean. The idea of this maritime humanitarian corridor is to "transport patients" or to "make the connection to transport more rapidly elements of care, food, basic necessities," Macron explained, assuring that "contacts" had been made with the Israeli authorities. These authorities had not yet officially reacted on Friday evening to this initiative, which was mentioned in parallel by the Cypriot president. "We're at the beginning of the process," said a European diplomat in Brussels. "Many avenues are being explored, but this is only the beginning."

Earlier this week, on a trip to Israel, Macron raised the idea of an international coalition to combat terrorism, and therefore Hamas. On Friday, the French president said that such a coalition would make it possible "to tell Israel that it is not alone in the fight against Hamas terrorism," "that terrorist groups cannot be isolated from each other for effective action" and "that the right action against terrorist groups is not a massive operation endangering civilians, but targeted operations based on information sharing and operational cooperation between the best armies".