PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, Mar 14: Efforts grew on Thursday 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 Ramadan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous 24 hours, the Hamas-run territorys 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 Gazas 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 tonnes of food aid, was nearing Israels coast after departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed on Thursday.
Cypruss foreign minister said a second, bigger vessel was being readied in Larnaca port for the maritime corridor which, senior United States 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 and Oxfam said in a statement.
"While a convoy of five trucks has the capacity to carry about 100 tonnes of lifesaving assistance, recent airdrops delivered only a few tonnes of aid each," they said.
Agnes Callamard, Amnestys secretary general, added that the international community seems to have accepted that the war will drag on.
"Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?" she asked, referring to the Pentagons timeline for setting up the temporary pier which, it said, could enable the provision of more than two 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 an AFP count based on 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 on Thursday 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 territorys health ministry.
The United Nations has reported difficulty in accessing Gazas north with aid.
On Tuesday the Israeli military said the UNs 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 territorys 2.4 million people, the main United Nations aid agency 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 agencys chief, Philippe Lazzarini, said the attack "comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine". —AFP
