A first ship carrying humanitarian aid was en route to Gaza from Cyprus on Tuesday, March 12, while Morocco sent relief supplies by land via Israel.
A Spanish charity boat taking food to Gaza left Cyprus on Tuesday in hopes of opening a maritime corridor to carry sorely needed aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, called for a ceasefire “now for the sake of children in Gaza.”
In a post on social media platform X, Lazzarini cited UN and Gaza health ministry figures that suggest more children had been killed in Gaza between October and February “than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined.”
“This war is a war on children,” he said.
The Open Arms aid boat which set sail from Larnaca port on the Mediterranean is part of efforts to diversify aid access into Gaza, as the flow of trucks has slowed.
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Some Western and Arab governments have opted for more aid airdrops, the latest announced Tuesday by Jordan and the United States.
Morocco has sent a plane loaded with 40 tons of relief supplies directly to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, a diplomatic source said, a bid to bypass bottlenecks on the Egypt-Gaza border blamed in part on cumbersome Israeli inspections.
The Moroccan aid would be transferred via Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, the source said.
UN aid coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag and head of the United Nations Office for Project Services Jorge Moreira da Silva said in a joint statement they “welcome the opening of a maritime corridor” but cautioned it may not be enough.
‘Manmade’ Crisis
Heavy Israeli bombardment again rained down on Gaza, killing at least 80 people overnight Monday-Tuesday, said the territory’s health ministry.
The army said its forces raided targets across Gaza, including a military compound in the main southern city of Khan Younes.
The war since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel has leveled 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.
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told the UN Security Council that “starvation is being used as a war arm.”
“This humanitarian crisis… is manmade,” he said, noting that “the natural way of providing support through roads is being closed, artificially closed.”
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The humanitarian crisis has gripped Gaza at a time when Muslims have since Monday observed the month of Ramadan, during which 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.”
Netanyahu Doubles Down
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.
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.”
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Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to push on with the war.
“We will destroy Hamas, free our hostages and ensure that Gaza doesn’t ever pose a threat to Israel again,” he said in a speech via video link to a pro-Israel lobby in the United States.
“We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way.”
Violence has also surged in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, where police said a 12-year-old boy died after being shot by Israeli border police during clashes at a refugee camp on Tuesday.
Adel Zaanoun, Louis Baudoin-Laarman, with AFP
