GAZA STRIP - A boat laden with food for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza was “ready” to sail from Cyprus, an NGO has said, as fighting raged between Israeli troops and Hamas militants ahead of Ramadan.
The sea route aims to counter aid access restrictions, which humanitarians and foreign governments have blamed on Israel, more than five months into the war which has left Gaza’s 2.4 million people struggling to survive.
Hopes were fading fast for a pause in the fighting before Ramadan, which could begin as early yesterday depending on the lunar calendar, as Israel accused Hamas of seeking to “inflame” the region during the Muslim fasting month.
United States President Joe Biden said Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach to the war was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel”, during an interview with MSNBC broadcast on Saturday.
Netanyahu “has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden said, but added that “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken”. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine, particularly in north Gaza where no overland border crossings are open.
In Rafah, in Gaza’s far south, “we can barely get water,” said displaced Palestinian woman Nasreen Abu Yussef. Roughly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge in the city, where Atallah al-Satel said he wanted an end to the war. “We are just exhausted citizens,” said Satel, who had fled to Rafah from Khan Yunis.
Spanish charity Open Arms said its boat, which docked three weeks ago in Cyprus’s Larnaca port, was “ready” to embark but awaits final authorisation. It would be the first shipment along a maritime corridor from Cyprus - the closest European Union country to Gaza - that the EU Commission hoped would open yesterday.
Open Arms spokeswoman Laura Lanuza told AFP that Israeli authorities were inspecting the cargo of “200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, rice and flour, cans of tuna”. US charity World Central Kitchen, which has partnered Open Arms, has teams in the besieged Gaza Strip who were “constructing a dock” to unload the shipment, Lanuza said.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command said a US Army ship left Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia on Saturday carrying the “first equipment to establish a temporary pier” to receive aid off Gaza.
The Pentagon said on Friday it would take up to 60 days to set up the temporary pier, which Biden announced the previous night. With ground access limited, countries have also turned to airdropping aid, although a parachute malfunction turned one delivery deadly on Friday.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday the number of deaths in Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza had risen to 30 960, including 82 people killed in strikes over the previous day. At least 23 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration, according to the ministry.
- Nampa/AFP