Deadly fighting raged on in Gaza yesterday, with no truce in sight on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and a dire humanitarian crisis gripping the besieged Palestinian territory.
A Spanish charity ship carrying food aid was expected to soon set sail from Cyprus to help alleviate the suffering in the coastal Gaza Strip, now in its sixth month of war.
The non-governmental group Open Arms said its boat would carry 200 tonnes of food, which its partner the US charity World Central Kitchen would then unload on the shores of Gaza where it had constructed a basic dock.
A US Army vessel, General Frank S Besson, carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean yesterday, three days after President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave, although it would be weeks before the pier becomes operational .
As famine looms in parts of Gaza, US, Jordanian and other planes have also airdropped food aid there, but UN agencies warn this falls far short of the needs of its 2.4 million people.
Weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have aimed for a six-week truce and the release of many of the about 100 hostages Hamas is still holding in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, with no result so far.
The widely shared target had been to halt the fighting by the start of Ramadan, which is expected to begin today depending on the first sighting of the crescent moon.
Casualties continued to rise, with at least nine Palestinians, including children, killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza City late Saturday and 13 in Deir al-Balah from artillery fire in Khan Younis.
