As violent combat broke out between Israeli troops and Hamas militants on Saturday ahead of Ramadan, a boat filled with much-needed aid was ready to travel from Cyprus to the war-torn Gaza, where the UN has repeatedly warned of hunger.The maritime route seeks to offset access constraints, which, more than five months into the conflict that has left Gaza’s 2.4 million residents fighting for survival, especially in the northern half of the Palestinian enclave, humanitarians and Western governments have attributed to Israel.
World Central Kitchen, a US charity, announced that it was putting aid aboard a boat in Cyprus, the EU member closest to Gaza, as the first cargo through a maritime corridor that the EU Commission intends to open on Sunday.
“Our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment’s notice,” said Open Arms, an NGO partner in the effort.
With ground access limited, countries have also turned to airdrops of aid. Canada became the latest to say it would join such missions, but a parachute malfunction turned one delivery deadly on Friday. It was not clear which country had undertaken the lethal airdrop.
Three additional children have passed away from starvation and dehydration, bringing the overall number of these deaths to 23, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The ministry reported that 82 more individuals had died in attacks during the previous day, increasing the total number of Israeli casualties from its ground invasion and shelling of Gaza to 30,960, the majority of whom were women and children.
Following the movement’s October 7 attack on Israel, which claimed around 1,160 lives, the most of them civilians, according to Israeli government numbers, Israel launched a retaliatory operation to destroy Hamas.
The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations has issued a warning, stating that the amount of help that may be transported by water will not significantly prevent the famine in Gaza.
