Ceasefire pressure grows as Gaza conditions worsen
INTERNATIONAL pressure is growing for Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal after nearly five months of fighting left much of Gaza in ruins, creating a worsening humanitarian catastrophe with many people scrambling for food to survive.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release up to 40 hostages in return for a six-week ceasefire, the release of some Palestinian prisoners and an major influx of aid to the isolated territory. But the talks have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough.
On Tuesday, US president Joe Biden said: “We must get more aid into Gaza. There’s no excuse. None.”
Aid groups say it has become nearly impossible to deliver supplies within most of Gaza because of the difficulty of co-ordinating with the Israeli military, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on October 7, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. More than 100 hostages were released in November in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The overall Palestinian death toll is more than 30,700, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures, but says women and children make up around two-thirds of the total casualties. It says more than 72,000 people have been injured.
Meanwhile, a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden killed two crew members and forced survivors to abandon the vessel, US officials said yesterday.
It is the first fatal attack in a campaign by the group over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The extent of the damage to the Barbados-flagged bulk carrier True Confidence remained unclear but two crew members were killed and six wounded, with survivors fleeing the ship in lifeboats, US officials.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, claimed responsibility for the attack in a pre-recorded message, saying its missile fire set the vessel ablaze. He said the rebels’ attacks would only stop when the “siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza is lifted”.
Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, a Cypriot government spokesperson said that European Union Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will visit Cyprus to inspect installations at the port of Larnaca, from where it is hoped ships loaded with humanitarian aid will soon depart for Gaza.
Constantinos Letymbiotis told reporters that Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides will join Von der Leyen on her inspection of the port tomorrow.
Letymbiotis said interest over the Cypriot initiative to ship a steady stream of aid in large quantities to the Palestinian enclave some 240 miles away has gained traction, both within the EU and among other countries.
EU spokesperson Eric Mamer said the bloc is hopeful that the corridor’s opening “will take place very soon”.