Efforts ramped up on Friday to deliver more desperately needed aid to war-ravaged Gaza, with the United States and Europe focused on opening a sea route, underscoring the West's growing frustration with Israel's conduct in the war.
A top European Union official said a charity ship will head to Gaza as a pilot operation for a new humanitarian sea corridor. Ursula von der Leyen spoke in Cyprus, where she came to inspect preparations to send more aid to Gaza by sea.
"We are very close to opening this corridor, hopefully this Sunday," von der Leyen said after a visit to the Cypriot port of Larnaca with Cyprus's President Nikos Christodoulides.
Just hours earlier, President Joe Biden announced that the US military will set up a temporary pier on Gaza's Mediterranean coast. He unveiled the plan during his State of the Union address to Congress after last week approving the US military airdropping aid into Gaza.
The plans follow an announcement by Hamas on Thursday that negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of more Israeli hostages will resume next week, dimming hopes that mediators could broker a truce before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Sunday.
After more than five months of war, much of Gaza is in ruins, and international pressure is growing for Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would halt the fighting and release the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Israel's near-total blockade of Gaza and the fighting have made it nearly impossible to deliver aid to most of Gaza, aid groups say. Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living in northern Gaza have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Over 100 hostages were released during a temporary cease-fire in November in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The number of Palestinians killed has climbed above 30,800. That's according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures but says women and children make up around two-thirds of all casualties.
Israeli strikes kill 78 people in last 24 hours
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Friday that 78 people were killed and 104 were wounded over the past 24 hours in Israeli strikes on different areas across the territory.
The latest figures raise the total Gaza death toll to 30,878 since the Israel-Hamas war started five months ago, according to the ministry. The overall number of wounded rose to 72,402. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said 72% were women and children.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known by the acronym UNRWA, said that about 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza over the past five months.
Israel launched its air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others.
UNRWA said in a post on X that on International Women's Day, "the women in Gaza continue to endure the consequences of this brutal war." Many of those killed are mothers who leave families behind, the agency said.
The agency said some of the women are giving birth without basic medical assistance. It said many lack menstrual hygiene products and privacy in exceptionally unsanitary living conditions.
