The first aid ship sailing a new maritime corridor from Cyprus began unloading its cargo of desperately needed food in Gaza today as Hamas proposed a new six-week ceasefire in the war.
Open Arms sailed from Cyprus on Tuesday, towing a barge which the Spanish charity says is loaded with 200 tonnes of food for Gazans threatened by famine after more than five months of war.
“World Central Kitchen is loading the barge that is now connected to the jetty,” said Linda Roth, a spokeswoman for the US charity that works with Open Arms.
The Israeli military said it had deployed troops to ‘secure the area’ around the jetty. “The vessel underwent a comprehensive safety inspection,” it added.
Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli fire had earlier killed 20 people waiting to receive aid. Israel blamed ‘armed Palestinians’ who it said had opened fire on civilians.
‘Open Arms’ is the first to enter Gaza and is said to be carrying 200 tonnes of food
Over five months of war has left Palestinians in desperate need of food aid
Palestinians in Rafah in Gaza stand in line to receive food distributed by aid organizations
The ministry said at least 149 people had been killed in the past 24 hours.
Witnesses reported airstrikes and fighting in the southern Gaza Strip’s main city of Khan Yunis, as well as areas in the north where the humanitarian situation has been particularly dire.
As Muslim worshipers marked the first Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan, thousands attended prayers at the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, amid a heavy Israeli security presence and access restrictions.
“This is the first year I see so many forces (police), and their eyes, their looks… Two years ago I could argue with them, but now… they don’t give us a chance”, said Amjad Ghalib , a 44-year-old carpenter.
In southern Gaza’s Rafah, the last major population center yet to be hit by a ground attack, AFPTV footage showed worshipers praying by the rubble of a destroyed mosque.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday he had approved the military’s plan for an operation in Rafah, where the majority of the Gaza Strip’s population has taken refuge, without giving details or a timeline.
US President Joe Biden, who has backed Israel during the war, has said an invasion of Rafah would be a ‘red line’ without credible civilian protection plans in place.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had not seen any plans for a Rafah operation, but reiterated it wanted a ‘clear and implementable plan’ to ensure civilians are ‘out of harm’.
In talks aimed at securing a new ceasefire and hostage deal, Hamas has put forward a new proposal for a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of several dozen Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official from the militant group told AFP.
Hamas wants this to lead to ‘a complete (Israeli) withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a permanent ceasefire’, the official added.
The proposal would involve the release of about 42 hostages, who would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners at a rate of between 20 and 50 prisoners per day. hostage, the official said, down from an earlier suggestion of about 100 to one.
Reports say Palestinians have started eating leaves and animal feed in desperation
Any aid that enters Gaza does not reach the people as the vehicles are destroyed
Pressure is mounting on Israel to provide more aid to the starving Palestinians
200 tons of food may sound like a lot, but over two million people live in Gaza
Without the help of charitable aid organizations, there would be even less food entering Gaza
There is often a rush to get the food when it arrives, leading to alleged killings by the IDF
The fasting month of Ramadan has begun, but here, in the daylight, desperation prevails
Desperate Palestinian parents are unable to feed their children as the war rages on
Over 31,000 Palestinians have now died in the conflict, while the rest are starving
Palestinian militants seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October 7 Hamas attack, dozens of whom were released during a week-long ceasefire in November. Israel believes around 130 prisoners remain in Gaza, including 32 presumed dead.
Israel said it would send a delegation to Qatar for a new round of talks, a day after Netanyahu accused Hamas of ‘adhering to unacceptable demands’.
Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken said the US was working ‘intensively’ with its broker colleagues Egypt and Qatar ‘to bridge the remaining gaps’.
The United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, has become increasingly critical of Netanyahu over his handling of the war.
It is not only food that Gaza lacks, it is other necessities such as water and medicine
Restrictions and violence in the conflict are two reasons why Gaza is extremely low on food
Palestinians carry and fill water bottles amid the clean water and food crisis
US Senate leader Chuck Schumer called for a quick Israeli election and described Netanyahu as one of several “major obstacles” to peace in a speech praised by Biden.
“I think he expressed serious concerns, not only shared by him, but by many Americans,” the president said.
Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party responded that Israel was ‘not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy’.
The UN has repeatedly warned of looming famine, with only a fraction of the supplies needed to sustain Gaza’s 2.4 million people being let in.
With fewer aid trucks coming in by road, efforts are multiplied to get emergency aid in by air and sea.
World Central Kitchen is a charity that prepares food for those affected by disasters around the world
Without organizations like World Central Kitchen, the crisis would be even worse
It’s World Central Kitchen’s 200 tonnes of food on the ‘Open Arms’ boat
Cyprus, the closest EU member state to Gaza, has said a second, larger vessel is being readied for the fledgling maritime air corridor after Open Arms completes its mission.
“God willing, they will bring food to the children, that’s all we ask,” displaced Gazan Abu Issa Ibrahim Filfil told AFPTV.
Hamas’ attack on October 7 resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to a tally of official figures by AFP.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 31,490 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry.
The ministry said Israeli troops opened fire from ‘tanks and helicopters’ as Palestinians gathered at a roundabout in Gaza City on Thursday, killing 20 people and wounding dozens.
Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a local hospital, told AFP there was ‘direct fire from the occupation forces’ on people waiting for a food truck.
Trucks are often used to deliver aid, but can only carry a limited amount of food
There is also the danger of trucks causing violence, as has been seen in the past by the IDF
The IDF, seen here on the border, surrounded the ship as it docked at the coast
The IDF blames violence on Hamas and Palestinian desperation when it comes to aid
Ramadan has begun, and Palestinians are praying wherever they can amid the destruction
Palestinians have had to deal with fasting for the past five months before Ramadan even began
The Israeli military denied firing into the crowd. “Armed Palestinians opened fire while civilians in Gaza were waiting for the arrival of the aid convoy,” and then continued shooting as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks, an army statement said.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said: ‘People should not die trying to keep their families alive.
‘The distribution of aid in Gaza should be done in a safe, dignified and predictable manner.’