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Efforts grew on Thursday to get more aid into the war-devastated Gaza Strip, where the UN warns of famine and desperate residents have stormed relief shipments.
After mediators failed to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas militants for the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said.
Hamas authorities reported more than 40 air strikes across Gaza, from Beit Hanun in the north to Rafah in the south, where most of Gaza's population has sought refuge and Israel is threatening a ground invasion.
Among the latest casualties, according to the health ministry, were seven people killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a group at an aid distribution point near Gaza City. The army had no immediate comment.
The charity vessel Open Arms, pulling about 200 tonnes of food aid, was nearing Israel's coast after departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed on Thursday.
Cyprus's foreign minister said a second, bigger vessel was being readied in Larnaca port for the maritime corridor which, senior United States administration officials have said, will later be complemented by a temporary pier off Gaza to be built by American troops.
Daily aid airdrops by multiple nations have been taking place this month, and Germany said it would join the effort.
But the air and sea missions are "no alternative" to land deliveries, 25 organisations including Amnesty International and Oxfam said in a statement.
"While a convoy of five trucks has the capacity to carry about 100 tonnes of lifesaving assistance, recent airdrops delivered only a few tonnes of aid each," they said.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, added that the international community seems to have accepted that the war will drag on.
"Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?" she asked, referring to the Pentagon's timeline for setting up the temporary pier which, it said, could enable the provision of more than two million meals a day.
With AFP
After mediators failed to reach a truce between Israel and Hamas militants for the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which started on Monday, fighting continued with at least 69 deaths over the previous 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said.
Hamas authorities reported more than 40 air strikes across Gaza, from Beit Hanun in the north to Rafah in the south, where most of Gaza's population has sought refuge and Israel is threatening a ground invasion.
Among the latest casualties, according to the health ministry, were seven people killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a group at an aid distribution point near Gaza City. The army had no immediate comment.
The charity vessel Open Arms, pulling about 200 tonnes of food aid, was nearing Israel's coast after departing Cyprus on Tuesday, the Marinetraffic website showed on Thursday.
Cyprus's foreign minister said a second, bigger vessel was being readied in Larnaca port for the maritime corridor which, senior United States administration officials have said, will later be complemented by a temporary pier off Gaza to be built by American troops.
Daily aid airdrops by multiple nations have been taking place this month, and Germany said it would join the effort.
'No alternative'
But the air and sea missions are "no alternative" to land deliveries, 25 organisations including Amnesty International and Oxfam said in a statement.
"While a convoy of five trucks has the capacity to carry about 100 tonnes of lifesaving assistance, recent airdrops delivered only a few tonnes of aid each," they said.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, added that the international community seems to have accepted that the war will drag on.
"Why are you making an investment that is going to take two months?" she asked, referring to the Pentagon's timeline for setting up the temporary pier which, it said, could enable the provision of more than two million meals a day.
With AFP
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