GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Israel pressed on with its offensive against Gaza on Sunday with no truce in sight on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as a dire humanitarian crisis gripped the besieged Palestinian territory.

 

A Spanish charity ship with food aid prepared to sail from Cyprus to the coastal Gaza Strip, where the UN has repeatedly warned of famine.

 

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required to meet basic humanitarian needs have been allowed into Gaza since October when Israel placed it under near-total siege.

 

The health ministry in Gaza said on Monday that at least 31,112 people have been killed in the territory during more than five months of war between Israel and Palestinian fighters.

 

The latest toll includes 67 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 72,760 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war began on October 7 when Hamas fighters attacked Israel.

 

About 370 kilometres from Cyprus across the Mediterranean Sea, Mohammed Harara stood on the shores of Gaza, hoping for the aid to arrive.

 

“I’ve been waiting since this morning, because tomorrow is the start of the holy month of Ramadan and the situation is very tragic,” he said.

 

The non-governmental group Open Arms said its boat would pull a barge with 200 tonnes of food, which its partner the US charity World Central Kitchen would then unload on Gaza’s shores.

 

It was expected to depart “within the coming hours”, Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told Cyprus News Agency.

 

Weeks of talks involving United States, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have aimed for a six-week truce and the release of many of the hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails.

 

The aim had been to halt the fighting by the start of Ramadan, which Saudi Arabia and several other Muslim countries said would begin on Monday after the sighting of the crescent moon.

 

 

Ramadan this year is “all pain”, said Ahmed Kamis, 40, in Rafah, where around 1.5 million people have tried to find refuge but are still at risk from Israeli bombing — and a ground operation which Israel has threatened into the southern city.

 

In Washington President Joe Biden, who faces growing criticism in America for his steadfast support of Israel as the civilian death toll in Gaza soars, issued a statement marking the start of the holy month.

 

“This year, it comes at a moment of immense pain,” Biden said.

 

“As Muslims gather around the world over the coming days and weeks to break their fast, the suffering of the Palestinian people will be front of mind for many. It is front of mind for me,” Biden added.

 

Both sides have blamed each other for failing to reach a truce deal, after Israel had demanded a full list of surviving hostages, and Hamas had called for Israel to pull out all its troops from Gaza.

 

A source with knowledge of the truce talks told AFP that “there will be a diplomatic push especially in the next 10 days” with a view to securing a deal within the first half of Ramadan.

 

 Exorbitant prices 

 

Biden on Saturday stressed his growing impatience with Israel’s right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling broadcaster MSNBC that the Israeli leader “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken”.

 

 

At this stage, said Biden, Netanyahu’s approach to the war was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel”.

 

Netanyahu, under pressure from desperate families of hostages still held in Gaza as well as critics of his government, on Sunday rejected Biden’s comments and said most Israelis back “the action that we’re taking to destroy the remaining terrorist battalions of Hamas”.

 

The UN has reported particular difficulty in accessing northern Gaza for deliveries of food and other aid.

 

What is available in the south is sold at exorbitant prices, residents say, making this Ramadan like no other.