Donor nations, aid agencies and charities are pushing forward with efforts to rush food to Gaza by land, air and sea after the European Union's top diplomat said starvation had become "a weapon of war" in the devastated Palestinian enclave.
Since the 7 October attacks, the Israel-Hamas conflict has caused mass civilian deaths, reduced vast areas to a rubble-strewn wasteland and sparked warnings of a looming famine in the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.
On Tuesday, a Spanish charity vessel – the Open Arms – was on its way to Gaza from Cyprus, where it had set sail towing a barge with 200 tonnes of aid, in a first voyage meant to open a maritime corridor.
The flow of aid trucks from Egypt into Gaza has slowed recently – a trend blamed both on Israeli security checks of cargo and civil unrest in Gaza where desperate crowds have looted aid shipments.
About half a dozen Arab and western nations have airdropped food parcels by parachute into Gaza, and Morocco has sent a planeload of relief supplies via Israel's Ben Gurion airport.
The UN World Food Programme – trying an alternative land route from southern Israel – sent six aid trucks into northern Gaza on Tuesday, through a gate in the security fence.
The WFP reported it had "delivered enough food for 25,000 people" and demanded that, with people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, they need deliveries every day: "We need entry points directly into the north."
Thank you @chefjoseandres for taking action for Palestinian civilians risking starvation.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) March 13, 2024
Your humanity should be an example to the world to join forces in bringing life-saving aid to Gaza and pressing Israeli authorities to grant full & unhindered humanitarian access. https://t.co/uDQJ7hRRVd
'Man-made' famine
This comes as the European Union's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza "is man-made".
"If we look at alternative ways to provide support, it's because the land crossings have been artificially closed," he said, charging that "starvation is being used as a weapon of war".
Gaza's food shortages after more than five months of war have killed 27 people through malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.
Aid agencies have warned that truck deliveries and airdrops have fallen far short of meeting the desperate needs of the population, as European nations and the United States have announced plans to send more relief goods by sea.
Maritime corridor
Last week, US President Joe Biden announced plans for the military to build a pier on Gaza's coast, and four US Army vessels left a base in Virginia on Tuesday carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment.
Spain's Open Arms vessel is continuing the 400 kilometre journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Gaza, where US charity World Central Kitchen said work was underway to build a makeshift jetty.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Tuesday that "if all goes according to plan ... we have already put in place the mechanism for a second and much bigger cargo".
"And then we'll be working towards making this a more systematic exercise with increased volumes."
Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in #Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars around the world combined.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 12, 2024
This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future.#ceasefireNow for the… pic.twitter.com/tYwSNHecpy
'War on children'
The Gaza war was sparked by the 7 October Hamas attacks that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians.
Weeks of talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators had aimed to bring a truce and hostage release deal before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but missed the deadline on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his pledge to "destroy Hamas" – including by sending troops into Gaza's last area so far spared ground operations, far-southern Rafah.
The prospect of a Rafah invasion has sparked global alarm because it is crowded with almost 1.5 million people displaced by the war, many sheltering in camps of makeshift tents.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, called for an immediate ceasefire and branded the conflict "a war on children".
