A ship transporting nearly 200 tonnes of much-needed aid was close to the shores of Gaza on Friday following United Nations warnings that famine is stalking the besieged Palestinian territory.
The charity ship Open Arms left the port of Larnaca three days ago towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein donated by the US-based humanitarian group World Central Kitchen (WCK), which said it had another consignment of 300 tonnes of food aid being loaded in Cyprus.
With Israel imposing tight and time-consuming restrictions on deliveries by road into Gaza, opening up the maritime route has become more pressing with UN agencies warning that more than two dozen deaths have already been caused by malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.
The charity operation is separate to a US military operation now in the planning, to build an emergency pier to get much more aid in and avert a bigger humanitarian disaster in Gaza, following five months of war caused by terror raids by Hamas.
The Palestinian group presented a new ceasefire proposal which includes the release of Israeli hostages seized on October 7 in exchange for 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal was still based on "unrealistic demands”, but the hardline leader himself came under striking new pressure in Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest ranking elected Jewish official in the US, said that Mr Netanyahu has "lost his way" and is an obstacle to peace in the region.
"Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah," the Democrat warned.
Ratcheting up the pressure on its Israeli allies, the US circulated the final draft of a UN Security Council resolution last night supporting international efforts to establish “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Gaza war.
