GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, March 9, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A boat carrying desperately needed aid for war-ravaged Gaza, where the UN has repeatedly warned of famine, prepared to sail from Cyprus as deadly fighting raged Saturday between Israeli troops and Hamas militants ahead of Ramadan.The sea route aims to counter access restrictions, which humanitarians and Western governments have blamed on Israel, more than five months into the war which has left Gaza's 2.4 million people struggling to survive, particularly in the Palestinian territory's north. 

A US charity, World Central Kitchen, said it was loading aid onto a boat in Cyprus -- the closest European Union country to Gaza -- in the first shipment along a maritime corridor the EU Commission hopes will open on Sunday.

"Our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment's notice," said Open Arms, an NGO partner in the effort.

With ground access limited, countries have also turned to airdrops of aid. Canada became the latest to say it would join such missions, but a parachute malfunction turned one delivery deadly on Friday. It was not clear which country had undertaken the lethal airdrop.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said three more children had died from malnutrition and dehydration, with the total of such deaths now 23.

Another 82 people were killed in strikes over the previous day, the ministry said, bringing the number of fatalities in Israel's bombardment and ground offensive of Gaza to 30,960, mostly women and children.

Israel's retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas began after the movement's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the volume of aid that can be delivered by sea will do little if anything to stave off famine in Gaza.

- Ramadan truce looks 'tough' -

Still, the aid vessel was preparing in the Cypriot port of Larnaca.

"World Central Kitchen teams are in Cyprus loading pallets of humanitarian aid onto a boat headed to northern Gaza," it said in a statement.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, in Larnaca on Friday, said a "pilot operation" would be launched in partnership with World Central Kitchen, and expressed hope the maritime corridor could open Sunday, supported by aid from the United Arab Emirates.

Details remained unclear.

Senior United States administration officials said an effort announced Thursday by President Joe Biden for a "temporary pier" to receive aid off Gaza builds upon the maritime corridor proposed by Cyprus.

Biden also acknowledged that hopes for a new truce deal before Ramadan, the Muslim holy fasting month that could begin on Sunday depending on the lunar calendar, were "looking tough".

Humanitarian workers and UN officials say easing the entry of trucks to Gaza would be more effective than aid airdrops or sea shipments.

Five Palestinians were killed and 10 injured by an airdrop in northern Gaza, said Mohammed al-Sheikh, emergency room head nurse at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital.

A witness, Mohammed al-Ghoul, told AFP he and his brother followed the delivery in the hope of getting "a bag of flour", but when the parachute failed to open it "fell down like a rocket," hitting a house.

Jordanian and US military officials denied that aircraft from either country caused the fatalities.

Belgium, Egypt, France and the Netherlands were also involved in the mission.

Canada's Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen said his country would also partner with Jordan and WFP for aerial aid delivery.

"We're looking at a serious risk of mass starvation in parts of Gaza, particularly in the north," he said.

- US military aid -

Biden, whose country provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel, told reporters that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must allow in more aid.

In their October attack, Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages, some of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes 99 hostages remain alive in Gaza and that 31 have died.

After a week of talks with mediators in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough, Hamas's armed wing said it would not agree to a hostage-prisoner exchange without the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Israel has rejected such a demand.

The Pentagon said Friday the plan to establish the temporary port off Gaza would take up to 60 days.
It could then "provide more than two million meals to the citizens of Gaza per day", spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told reporters.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said Washington's "absurd" pier proposal would not "prevent starvation and famine by any definition".

- 15 drones downed -

Sweden said Saturday it was resuming aid to the UN agency for Palestinians, the main relief body in Gaza, following a similar announcement by Canada.

UNRWA has been at the centre of controversy since Israel in January accused 12 of its roughly 30,000 employees of involvement in the October 7 attack, prompting major donors to suspend funding and Sweden to put payments on hold.

On the ground, fighting continued in the area of Khan Yunis city where troops killed more than 20 militants over the past day, Israel's army said.

Roughly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge further south in Rafah but there, too, they are not safe.

Hamas authorities reported more than 30 air strikes overnight, including one on a residential building in Rafah sheltering around 200 displaced people.

"We do not feel the joy of Ramadan approaching," said displaced Palestinian woman Nevin al-Siksek.

The war's effects have been felt across the region, including off Yemen whose Iran-backed Huthi rebels have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea area vital for world trade.

US and allied forces shot down 15 one-way attack drones fired towards the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the US military said, after one of the largest such rebel strikes.