Fighting rages in Gaza before Ramadan; aid boat set to sail

A boat laden with food for Palestinians in war-ravaged Gaza was "ready" to set sail from Cyprus, an NGO said Saturday, as fighting raged between Israeli troops and Hamas resistance fighters ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
The sea route aims to counter aid access restrictions, which humanitarians and foreign governments have blamed on Israel, more than five months into the war which has left Gaza's 2.4mn people struggling to survive.
Hopes were fast fading for a pause in the fighting before Ramadan, as Israel accused Hamas of seeking to "inflame" the region during the Muslim fasting month.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine, particularly in north Gaza where no overland border crossings are open.
Spanish charity Open Arms said its boat, which docked three weeks ago in Cyprus's Larnaca port, "will be ready" to embark later Saturday but awaits final authorisation.
It would be the first shipment along a maritime corridor from Cyprus -- the closest European Union country to Gaza -- that the EU Commission hopes will open Sunday.
Open Arms spokeswoman Laura Lanuza said Israeli authorities, who welcomed the Cypriot sea corridor initiative, were inspecting the cargo of "200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, rice and flour, cans of tuna".
US charity World Central Kitchen, which has partnered with Open Arms, has teams in the besieged Gaza Strip who were "constructing a dock" to unload the shipment, Lanuza said.
With ground access limited, countries have also turned to airdropping aid, although a parachute malfunction turned one delivery deadly on Friday.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said three more children had died from malnutrition and dehydration, with the total number of such deaths now 23.
Another 82 people were killed in strikes over the previous day, the ministry said, bringing the number of deaths in Israel's bombardment and ground offensive of Gaza to 30,960, mostly women and children.
The UN's World Food Programme has warned that the volume of aid that can be delivered by sea will do little if anything to stave off famine in Gaza.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, in Larnaca on Friday, said a "pilot operation" would be launched in partnership with World Central Kitchen, supported by aid from the United Arab Emirates.
A US effort for a "temporary pier" to receive aid off Gaza, which the Pentagon said would take up to 60 days to establish, builds upon the maritime corridor proposed by Cyprus, senior US officials said.
Humanitarian workers and UN officials say easing the entry of trucks to Gaza would be more effective than aid airdrops or maritime shipments.
It was unclear which country conducted Friday's deadly airdrop, but Jordanian, US, Belgian and Dutch officials denied their aircraft were involved.
A medic at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital said it had killed five Palestinians.
The US military said it airdropped more than 41,000 meals into Gaza on Saturday, and Canada has said it too will join aerial aid delivery missions.
But a steady, substantial flow of relief into Gaza was "only part of the solution", said International Committee of the Red Cross chief Mirjana Spoljaric.
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 unless Israeli forces withdraw.
Israel has rejected such a demand.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Mossad spy chief David Barnea had met CIA director William Burns on Friday "as part of the ceaseless efforts to advance another hostage release deal".
US President Joe Biden -- whose country provides billions of dollars in military aid to Israel -- acknowledged it would now be "tough" to secure a new truce deal in time for Ramadan.
The war's effects have been felt across the region, including off Yemen where Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with Gazans, have repeatedly targeted ships plying the vital Red Sea trade route.
On the ground in southern Gaza, fighting persisted in the area of Khan Younis, where troops killed more than 20 fighters over the past day, Israel's army said.
Roughly 1.5mn Palestinians have sought refuge in the city.