Israel’s military continued to bomb the Gaza Strip today, killing dozens of people ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and amid international efforts to send humanitarian aid to the besieged civilian population at risk of starvation.
As part of the EU’s announcement of a humanitarian maritime corridor, the first ship is set to set sail from Cyprus to carry aid to the territory devastated by more than five months of war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
Ahead of Ramadan, there are no signs of a ceasefire agreement being reached in a war that Hamas says has killed more than 31,000 people, mostly civilians, in an Israeli military offensive.
Israel launched the offensive in retaliation for the unprecedented bloody attacks by Palestinian extremists, led by Hamas, on southern Israel on October 7. In those attacks, at least 1,160 people were killed, most of them civilians, and more than 250 hostages were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, of which 130 are still being held.
Last night, according to Hamas authorities, more than 60 strikes were carried out and houses were hit in the central and southern part of Gaza, mostly in the city of Han Yunis.
At least 13 people were killed when a shell hit tents of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi region between Khan Younis and Rafah, the Health Ministry there said.
A total of 85 Palestinians were killed in the night between Saturday and Sunday.
The Israeli army, whose soldiers operate in a large part of the Palestinian territory, announced that about 30 Palestinian fighters were killed in the past 24 hours in central Gaza and Khan Yunis.
According to UN data, hunger is a threat to 2.2 million of the 2.4 million inhabitants, and 1.7 million are displaced. The Hamas Health Ministry said 25 people, mostly children, died of starvation. In the past few days, several Western and Arab countries have dropped packages of food and medical equipment into Gaza.
On Friday, the EU and the US announced that they are preparing a maritime humanitarian corridor from Cyprus, which is about 370 kilometers from Gaza.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed hope that the first ship will set sail today with 200 tons of food provided by non-governmental organizations. Israeli authorities checked the cargo, said a spokeswoman for the American NGO Worlds Central Kitchen. It remains to be seen how that aid will be delivered in a territory that is bombarded daily by the Israeli army and fighting is ongoing.
The UN warns that widespread starvation is almost imminent in Gaza. They confirmed that dropping aid packages from the air and sending them by sea cannot replace land delivery, Beta news agency writes.
