Israeli bombings left dozens dead on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, where Ramadan begins without an agreement on a truce between Israel and Hamas, while the international community tries to send aid to the population hit by the famine.
As part of a maritime corridor announced by the European Union, a first ship loaded with 200 tonnes of food was preparing to leave Cyprus for the besieged Palestinian territory.
No break in fighting is expected for the start of Ramadan, the holy Muslim fasting month which begins Monday, as mediating countries had hoped.
For Ahmed Kamis, a 40-year-old displaced man in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, Ramadan this year is nothing but “suffering”. “There is a dirty, bloody war, a war of genocide. The displaced have nothing to eat or drink,” he said.
The war was sparked on October 7 by an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which left at least 1,160 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally. from official Israeli sources.
“So she doesn’t die”
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate the Islamist movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Its army launched an offensive that has so far killed 31,045 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to Hamas’s health ministry.
On Sunday, Hamas authorities counted 85 dead in 24 hours in more than 60 strikes that hit central and southern Gaza, including the town of Khan Younes.
PHOTO MOHAMMED ABED, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A Palestinian boy looks at the damage caused to a building hit during an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza, on March 10.
At least 13 people were killed by a strike on displaced people’s tents in the Al-Mawasi region, between Khan Younes and Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health.
Israel announced the death of a soldier, bringing to 249 the number of soldiers killed since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
The war has also caused a major humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, subjected by Israel to a total siege since October 9, where the UN fears widespread famine.
“I feed my daughter water, water, just so she doesn’t die. I have no choice,” said a woman, Barak Abhar, in Gaza City, carrying her crying baby in her arms.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A man and a boy mourn the death of a family member in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on March 10.
“A boat loaded with aid”
Humanitarian aid, controlled by Israel, only arrives in dribs and drabs in Gaza, mainly from Egypt, even though the needs are immense.
On Sunday, Jordan, the United States, France, Belgium and Egypt participated in new aid airdrops.
PHOTO AMIR COHEN, REUTERS
Packages fall in northern Gaza after being dropped from an Egyptian military plane on March 10.
The EU and the United States announced on Friday that they were preparing a maritime corridor from Cyprus, located in the eastern Mediterranean about 370 kilometers from Gaza.
A first ship chartered by the Spanish NGO Open Arms in partnership with the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) was preparing to set sail from the port of Larnaca on Sunday.
On Sunday, residents took to the beach in southern Gaza City hoping to see the ship arrive. “I have been waiting since this morning, because tomorrow begins the holy month of Ramadan and the situation is tragic,” assured Mohammed Harrara.
“They said a boat loaded with aid was coming and people could eat,” said another Palestinian, Mohammed Abou Baïd. ” Only God knows. We won’t believe it until we see it,” he added.
But the UN says that airdrops and sending aid by sea cannot replace land delivery.
“More harm than good”
This aid mainly passes through Rafah, a town stuck against the Egyptian border, where, according to the UN, nearly a million and a half people live in fear of a ground offensive announced by Israel.
US President Joe Biden once again raised his voice on Saturday, saying that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was doing “more harm than good to Israel”. “He has the right to defend Israel, the right to continue attacking Hamas. But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives lost,” he said.
President Biden “is wrong”, Benjamin Netanyahu retorted on Sunday, denying that he was acting against the interests of his country.
Despite new discussions in early March in Cairo, the mediating countries – the United States, Qatar and Egypt – were unable to reach an agreement on a truce before the start of Ramadan.
Hamas is demanding in particular a definitive ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli troops before any agreement on the release of hostages still held in Gaza. There are 130 of them according to the Israeli authorities, of whom 31 are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on October 7.
Israel is demanding that Hamas provide a precise list of hostages still alive, but the Palestinian movement has said it does not know who is “alive or dead” among them.
Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh assured Sunday that the Islamist movement remained “open to negotiations”, while the two camps accuse each other of preventing an agreement.
Hamas wants to see Ramadan “transformed from a month of prayer into a month of blood,” said Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet.
A source close to the negotiations, however, told AFP on Sunday “that there would be an acceleration of diplomatic efforts in the next 10 days” in order to try to obtain an agreement during the first half of Ramadan.
The United States fears that the situation could become “very dangerous” particularly in East Jerusalem, where the Esplanade des Mosques, the third holiest site in Islam, is located, if fighting continued during Ramadan.