ATHENS/JERUSALEM, June 26 (Reuters) - Israel has asked Cyprus to examine the possibility of establishing a shipping point on the island for sending goods to the Gaza Strip, a Cypriot government spokesman said on Tuesday. Since Israel occupied the narrow coastal strip in 1967, maritime cargoes for Gaza have landed at Israeli ports, been inspected, and transferred by lorry to the Kerem Shalom goods crossing between Israel and Gaza. All goods delivered to Cyprus would still be checked by the Israelis as part of a special monitoring mechanism, designed to prevent weapons-smuggling into the territory controlled by the Hamas militant group. This trade created jobs and gave a major boost to the strip’s economy until the tunnels were closed by Israel and Egypt between 2009 and 2015, when Israel resumed full control. Read more: When Israelis started to talk about the occupation

But the UN has urged Israel to create more avenues for goods to reach the enclave, as many Gazans live in poverty. “It is an old issue which is now being re-discussed,” the Cypriot government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou told Reuters, referring to the fact that the idea of establishing a port for Gaza in Cyprus has actually been floated for years. “There will be contacts between the government and all interested parties in the region [before] a decision will be taken.”

While an agreement in principle had been reported between Mr Lieberman and his Cypriot counterpart Savvas Angelides, Cypriot ambassador to Israel Thessalia-Salina Shambos told the Jerusalem Post: “We are not there yet.” She said a deal would “require the consent or the agreement and co-operation of all stakeholders”. The Cypriot authorities have confirmed that Israel has addressed them with this proposal, adding that no decision has yet been taken on the matter. The request is being examined, it hasn’t been rejected,” he added. The Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman advanced the ‘port for Gaza’ proposal to the Cypriot authorities on his trip to the island last weekend, Israeli media reported on Monday. Read more: 70 years of Nakba: The ongoing struggle of Palestinian refugees

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman made the proposal after reaching an understanding with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades during an official visit to Nicosia. Lieberman’s office, in response to the report, said that Israel is working with international players in a number of ways to try to “change the reality in Gaza”, but that any move to improve the humanitarian situation depends on the return of Israelis who are missing or being held prisoner in Gaza. The Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement:

Israeli media reported that a detailed working plan of the port establishment would be put together over the next three months and would be then presented “directly” to the Gaza people. According to Israeli media, the proposal is indeed conditional on the release of the Israeli civilian captives held by Hamas since 2014 and 2015 as well as on the return of the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, killed in 2014 during Operation Protective Edge. At least one Israeli cabinet minister, Yuval Steinitz, has been promoting the Cyprus seaport idea as a way to create a conduit into Gaza that does not go through Israel. Another Israeli cabinet minister has raised the idea of building an artificial island off the Gaza coast, a much larger project. Security checks at the piers, however, would have to be handled by Israel together with an international group, like the United Nations, Steinitz said in an interview with Reuters earlier this month

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An Israeli official says that the nation has asked Cyprus to consider allowing Israel to set up a shipping point on the island for goods destined for Gaza.