Aid ship sails to Gaza as Israel-Hamas war grinds on
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (AFP) - A Spanish charity ship taking food aid to Gaza left the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Tuesday in hopes of opening a maritime corridor to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
The Open Arms set sail towing a barge loaded with 200 tonnes of relief goods for the sea journey of about 400 kilometres (250 miles), as Cyprus said it was readying a second ship.
"The departure of the first ship is a sign of hope," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on social media platform X. "We will work hard together for many more ships to follow."
Heavy Israeli bombardment again rained down on Gaza, killing at least 80 people overnight, and dozens more were missing under the rubble, said the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
"At least 80 martyrs arrived at hospitals, the majority children, women and the elderly," it said in a statement.
The army said its forces were raiding targets across Gaza and had found "AK-47 rifles, vests and explosive devices" in a military compound in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.
The war since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel has levelled vast parts of the coastal strip and sparked dire food shortages that have led the UN World Food Programme to warn "famine is imminent" in northern Gaza.
As the flow of aid trucks from Egypt has slowed -- a trend variously blamed on the war, the growing insecurity on the ground, and cumbersome Israeli inspections of cargo -- Western and Arab governments have stepped up daily airdrops.
However UN and other relief agencies warn that parachuting in aid parcels is less effective and falls far short of the hundreds of truckloads needed every day to sustain the population of 2.4 million people.
The humanitarian crisis has gripped Gaza at a time Muslims have since Monday observed the month of Ramadan, where daytime fasts are traditionally broken with lavish evening iftar meals with family and friends.
In Gaza's southern city of Rafah -- now home to nearly 1.5 million people, many of whom have sought refuge in crowded shelters and makeshift tents -- one man, Mohammad al-Masry, said this year the family had just "canned food and beans".
Another displaced woman, Umm Muhammad Abu Matar from Khan Yunis, told AFP that this year, Ramadan has "the taste of blood and misery".
Truce 'not near'
The war started with the October 7 Hamas attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also took around 250 hostages, dozens of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 32 presumed dead.
The Israeli military said Tuesday a soldier believed to be held in Gaza, Itay Hen, 19, had been killed on October 7 and his body was taken to Gaza.
US President Joe Biden expressed his condolences for the soldier, a dual Israeli-US national whose surname is also spelled Chen.
Israel's retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive have killed 31,184 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.
Weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators failed to bring about a truce and hostage exchange deal ahead of Ramadan.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said that, although talks between the parties continued, "we are not near a deal".
Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a demand labelled "delusional" by Israel, which accuses the group of seeking to stoke unrest during Ramadan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed, despite growing international opposition, to push on with the war.
In an interview with Fox News, he doubled down on his plan to send troops into Rafah near the Egyptian border, the last area so far spared ground operations.
"We can't leave a quarter of the Hamas terror army in place, they're there in Rafah," the right-wing premier said, adding that "it's either Israel or Hamas, there's no middle way".
He said Israel agreed with the United States on the need to "first enable the safe departure of the civilian population from Rafah before we go in".
Lebanon, Yemen violence
The worst ever Gaza war, now in its sixth month, has stoked anger and protests worldwide, most of them against Israel.
It has also sparked clashes involving Iran-backed armed groups in the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Huthi rebels.
The Israeli army said Tuesday it had hit around 4,500 Hezbollah targets over the past five months in Lebanon and Syria, killing 300 fighters of the group and wounding more than 750.
The targets included "weapons storage facilities, military structures intended for Hezbollah's offensive activity and operational command and control centres".
New strikes on Tuesday on eastern Lebanon, far from the border, killed two people, Lebanese sources said, after Hezbollah said it had launched "more than 100" rockets at Israeli military positions.
Yemen's Huthis have been attacking ships on the key Red Sea trade route leading towards the Suez Canal, in professed solidarity with the Palestinians, forcing many vessels to make the costlier journey around Africa.
US forces said Tuesday they had destroyed nearly 20 ballistic missiles and an underwater drone after the Huthis had fired two missiles, without causing casualties or damage, towards a merchant ship.
The Huthis said the attacks were "in support of the oppressed Palestinian people" and vowed that "military operations will be escalated... during the month of Ramadan".