Aid efforts grow to prevent Gaza famine
EFFORTS grew yesterday to get more aid into the war-devastated Gaza Strip, where the UN warns of famine and desperate residents have stormed relief shipments.
After mediators failed to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas militants for the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadaan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous 24 hours, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said.
Hamas authorities reported more than 40 air strikes across Gaza, from Beit Hanun in the north to Rafah in the south, where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge and Israel is threatening a ground invasion.
Among the latest casualties, according to the health ministry, were seven people killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a group at an aid distribution point near Gaza City. The army had no immediate comment.
The charity vessel Open Arms, pulling about 200 tons of food aid, was nearing Israel’s coast after departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed yesterday.
Cyprus’s foreign minister said a second, bigger vessel was being readied in Larnaca port for the maritime corridor which, senior US administration officials have said, will later be complemented by a temporary pier off Gaza to be built by American troops.
Daily aid airdrops by multiple nations have been taking place this month, and Germany said it would join the effort. But the air and sea missions are “no alternative” to land deliveries, 25 organisations, including Amnesty International, said.
“While a convoy of five trucks has the capacity to carry about 100 tons of lifesaving assistance, recent airdrops delivered only a few tons of aid each,” they said. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general. “Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?” she asked, referring to the Pentagon’s timeline for setting up the temporary pier which, it said, could enable the provision of more than 2 million meals a day.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in about 1 160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to official figures. The militants also seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, dozens of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes about 130 of the captives remain in Gaza and that 32 are dead. Activists and families of Israeli hostages yesterday kept up pressure for their release, again blocking a Tel Aviv highway in protest.
Vowing to destroy Hamas after the October 7 attack, Israel has carried out a relentless campaign of bombardment and ground operations in Gaza, killing at least 31 341 people, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The UN has reported difficulty in accessing Gaza’s north with aid. The Israeli military said the UN’s World Food Programme had sent an initial six aid trucks directly into northern Gaza as part of a pilot project.
While efforts continue to get more assistance to the territory’s 2.4 million people, the main UN aid agency for Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA, said on Wednesday that an Israeli strike hit one of its food distribution warehouses in Rafah, killing an employee and wounding 22. The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the attack “comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine”.
Israel said later a Hamas militant was killed in a strike on Rafah and identified him as Muhammad Abu Hasna. Gaza’s health ministry said he was one of four people killed.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told reporters that “the Israeli army received the co-ordinates ... of this facility”.
It is the latest point of tension between Israel and UNRWA, since Israel accused several UNRWA employees, out of about 30 000 it employs in the Middle East, of involvement in the attack that started the war.