War rages in besieged Gaza on eve of Ramadan

Deadly fighting raged in Gaza on Sunday between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, 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.

About 370 kilometres (230 miles) 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.

Jordanian, US, French, Belgian and Egyptian planes parachuted aid over northern Gaza on Sunday, but the United Nations' aid coordinator for the area has said more supply by land is the best way to get assistance to the territory's 2.4 million people.

Some of the airdropped food packages smashed open on impact, leaving residents picking through the dirt to salvage what they could, AFPTV images showed.

The war started by the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel has killed 31,045 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza where vast swathes have been reduced to a bombed-out wasteland.

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 that militants are still holding, 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.

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".

He said Israel's military has killed "at least 13,000 terrorist fighters", but did not give details on how the figure was derived.

Hamas's attack which started the war resulted in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

The militants also took around 250 hostages, dozens of whom were released during a week-long truce in November. Israel believes 99 hostages remain alive and that 31 have died.
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.