International efforts to send aid to Gaza, on the brink of famine, continue
International efforts continue Thursday to bring more humanitarian aid to the war-torn Gaza Strip where there is a risk of famine, the UN said.
Following the failure to reach a truce between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement for Ramadan, which began on Monday, fighting continues with at least 69 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, which administers the Palestinian territory.
Hamas reported more than 40 air strikes in Gaza from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah in the south, the city where most of the population is sheltered and which Israel is threatening to attack by land.
The "Open Arms" ship, owned by the Spanish NGO of the same name, left Cyprus on Tuesday with about 200 tonnes of food aid and is approaching the coast of Israel, according to the website Marinetraffic. It is the first to take a new sea corridor to Gaza.
Cyprus' Foreign Minister said a second, larger ship is being prepared in the port of Larnaca.
The aid corridor will be complemented by a temporary dock off Gaza to be built by US troops, the Washington administration said.
Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to establish a temporary pier on the Gaza coast that can receive shipments of food, water, medicine, and shelter.
To Israel, I say humanitarian assistance cannot be secondary.
Protecting and saving innocent lives must be a priority.— President Biden (@POTUS) March 8, 2024
Recent airdrops of aid from several countries are "not an alternative" to ground deliveries, 25 NGOs, including Amnesty International and Oxfam, said in a statement.
Israel vowed to "annihilate" Hamas after the 7 October attack, when Islamist commandos killed some 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Humanitarian aid entering Gaza from land, air and sea: For the first time, humanitarian aid to arrive to Gaza by sea. A ship carrying humanitarian aid from@WCKitchen and funded by UAE set sail on Tue. from the Larnaca port in Cyprus toward Gaza.
— COGAT (@cogatonline) March 14, 2024
1/3 pic.twitter.com/4USmSr13DV
They also kidnapped some 250 people, 130 of whom are still being held in Gaza, although Israel estimates that 32 of them were killed.
Israel has responded with an intense bombing campaign and ground operations in Gaza that have left at least 31,341 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the territory of 2.4 million people.
The main UN aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA, said on Wednesday that an Israeli strike hit one of its food warehouses in Rafah, killing one person and wounding about 20 others.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the attack "comes as food supplies are running low, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, is turning into famine."
"Humanitarian island"
The Open Arms ship left Cyprus for Gaza on Tuesday and is towing a barge with 200 tonnes of aid.
Open Arms is working alongside Spanish-American chef José Andrés' charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), which will distribute the food.
Israel said the ship "underwent a thorough security check and is accompanied by Israeli officials to ensure that only humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip".
6 humanitarian aid trucks containing aid from the World Food Organization (WFP) entered northern Gaza.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 12, 2024
This was done as part of a pilot to prevent Hamas from taking over the aid. pic.twitter.com/oN60ppYirm
Along the shore in northern Gaza, people are already waiting for its arrival, including Eid Ayub. "When this aid arrives, there is no organisation to distribute it," he said, claiming that traders are taking advantage of the shortage.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, along the closed border with Egypt, where Israel is threatening to launch a ground offensive against Hamas.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari spoke for the first time on Wednesday of "a humanitarian island" where he said Rafah's inhabitants could be displaced.
