Egypt appeals for more aid deliveries by land to Gaza

Egypt’s top diplomat on Thursday made an emotional appeal for an urgent increase in humanitarian aid going into Gaza by land, even as an aid ship loaded with some 200 tons of food was on its way to the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been driven to the brink of starvation.

The push to get food in by sea – along with a recent campaign of airdrops into isolated northern Gaza – highlighted the international community’s frustration with the growing humanitarian crisis and with Israel’s restrictions that have prevented more aid getting in by land.

On Wednesday, Israel said it plans to tell 1.4 million Palestinians displaced in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to seek shelter “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza ahead of a planned military offensive into the south. Israel says Hamas maintains four battalions in Rafah that it wants to destroy.

Humanitarian groups fear a military offensive into the densely crowded area would be a catastrophe. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes, with many driven into sprawling tent camps. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, the United Nations has warned. The border crossing at Rafah is Gaza’s main entry point for aid.

More than 31,314 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry said. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in southern Israel during the Hamas-led incursion on Oct. 7 that sparked the war. Around 250 people were abducted, and Hamas is believed to still be holding about 100 hostages.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that Israel’s assault on the territory has killed 31,314 Palestinians and wounded more than 73,100.

The ministry says around two-thirds of the dead are women and children and that the real overall toll is higher because bodies are buried under the rubble or in areas that medics can’t access amid Israel’s ground offensive and bombardment. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Israel blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, residential areas. The Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters.