UK's Cameron says air and sea aid delivery no substitute for land

Aid sent into Gaza by air or by sea is no substitute for delivery by land which "remains the best way to get aid in at the scale that is needed", the UK's foreign secretary said on Tuesday.

"Israel must open more land routes, including in the north for longer and with fewer screening requirements," David Cameron told the House of Lords. 

Asked why he had been unable to persuade the Israeli government to open border crossings and provide access to trucks carrying aid, Cameron said he believed the UK was making a difference, citing what he said were the latest figures for daily crossings in Gaza.

In January, the number of trucks carrying aid that entered Gaza each day was 140 on average, dropping 97 in February and picking up this month to 162, he said.

Cameron also said that while other countries could help with getting aid into Gaza, Israel could "make the greatest difference".

"Some of the blockages and screening problems and all the rest of it are their responsibility," he said, pointing to 18 trucks dispatched from Jordan that were held at the Allenby Bridge for 18 days.

"That does seem to me the sort of thing we need to act on faster to get that aid into Israel."

He also said that Israel could maximise the delivery of aid by sea from Cyprus by opening the fully functioning Ashdod Port, and encouraged Israel to give out more visas to UN workers to speed up distribution once aid gets to Gaza.