The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins Monday in Gaza with no truce in sight, as fighting rages between Israeli forces and Hamas militants and a dire humanitarian crisis grips the besieged Palestinian territory.
A Spanish charity ship with food aid prepared to sail from Cyprus to the coastal Gaza Strip, where the UN has repeatedly warned of famine.
Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required to meet basic humanitarian needs have been allowed into Gaza since October when Israel placed it under near-total siege.
About 370 kilometres (230 miles) from Cyprus across the Mediterranean Sea, Mohammed Harara stood on the shores of Gaza, hoping for the aid to arrive.
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“I’ve been waiting since this morning because tomorrow is the start of the holy month of Ramadan and the situation is very tragic,” he said.
The non-governmental group Open Arms said its boat would tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food, which its partner the US charity World Central Kitchen would then unload on Gaza’s shores.
It was expected to depart “within the coming hours”, Cypriot government spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis said.
Jordanian, US, French, Belgian and Egyptian planes parachuted aid into northern Gaza on Sunday, but the United Nations aid coordinator for the area has said boosting supply by land is the best way to get assistance to the territory’s 2.4 million people.
Some of the airdropped food packages smashed open on impact, leaving residents picking through the dirt to salvage what they could, AFPTV images showed.
The war started by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel has killed 31,045 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where vast swathes have been reduced to a bombed-out wasteland.
Weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have aimed for a six-week truce and the release of many of the hostages taken on October 7 that militants are still holding. In return, Israel would free Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
The aim had been to halt the fighting by the start of Ramadan.
