STARVATION
Donor nations, aid agencies and charities are pushing on with efforts to rush food to war-torn Gaza by land, air and sea after EU top diplomat Josep Borrell said starvation had become “a weapon of war”.
The Israel-Hamas conflict raging since Oct 7 has caused mass civilian deaths, reduced vast areas to a rubble-strewn wasteland and sparked warnings of looming famine in the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people.
A Spanish charity vessel, the Open Arms, is due to arrive in Gaza from Cyprus, where it had set sail early Tuesday 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 variously blamed on Israel and its security checks of cargo, and on civil unrest in Gaza where desperate crowds have looted aid shipments.
About half a dozen Arab and Western nations have airdropped food parcels on parachutes 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 an initial six aid trucks on Tuesday into worst-hit northern Gaza, through a gate in the security fence, the Israeli army said.
Singapore on Friday said it would deliver its third tranche of humanitarian assistance for Gaza via Jordan.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan will make a working visit to Amman, Jordan from Saturday to Sunday to hand over the aid in cooperation with the Jordanian government.