The UK is considering sending troops to help distribute crucial supplies on the ground in Gaza when a new aid corridor opens next month, reports have said.
British troops could be deployed in the region to support a maritime aid corridor to Gaza expected to open in early May, the BBC first reported. According to the report, a possible role may see British forces drive trucks onto the temporary causeway and deliver aid to a secure distribution area ashore.
Whitehall sources told the broadcaster that no decision has been made about the deployment of British troops to work on the ground in the region and that the issue has not yet been put to the Prime Minister.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) declined to comment when approached by i.
The MoD said on Friday that Royal Navy support ship RFA Cardigan Bay had set sail from Cyprus to help to build a large floating pier to allow delivery of humanitarian aid directly from the sea.
The UK has been closely involved in planning the sea-borne aid operation alongside international allies including the US.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday that Britain continues to take “a leading role in the delivery of support” in coordination with other countries.
He said the floating pier would enable “tens of thousands of tonnes of aid to be delivered directly from the sea onto the beach”, as leading organisations including the World Food Programme warn over the increasing risk of famine in the region.
A US military official said earlier this week that deliveries through the sea route initially will total about 90 trucks a day and could quickly increase to about 150 trucks daily.
Around 1,000 US troops will support the military effort, including in coordination cells in Cyprus and Israel.
However, the US has insisted that no American personnel will step foot on shore during the operation, amid concerns that doing so could inflame tensions in the region and carry significant security risks.
US officials said that an unnamed “third party” – understood to be another country rather than a private contractor – will drive trucks along a floating causeway onto the beach.
“Just a point of emphasis, there will be no US military boots on the ground. So, a third party is driving those trucks,” one US military official said.
It means that any decision for UK troops to be directly involved in the land distribution of aid supplies would see Britain go further than the US in the rollout of the operation.
Aid groups have voiced broad concerns about the safety of those distributing aid via the new sea corridor and expressed reservations about how Israeli forces will handle security. There are also concerns about how Hamas could respond to the operation.
Sonali Korde, an official with the US Agency for International Development, told Associated Press (AP) earlier this week that crucial agreements around security and handling the aid deliveries were still being negotiated.
It comes after seven aid workers, including three Britons, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on 1 April as they travelled in clearly-marked aid vehicles on a delivery mission authorised by Israel.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) admitted its attack on aid vehicles belonging to the World Central Kitchen (WCK) was a “serious mistake”.
The IDF fired two senior officers following an investigation into the drone strikes, which killed British WCK workers John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby, plus four others.