Aid boat readied as Gaza fighting rages before Ramadan

A boat carrying desperately needed aid for war-ravaged Gaza, where the U.N. has repeatedly warned of famine, prepared to sail from Cyprus as deadly fighting raged Saturday between Israeli troops and Hamas militants ahead of Ramadan.

The sea route aims to counter access restrictions, which humanitarians and Western governments have blamed on Israel, more than five months into the war which has left Gaza's 2.4 million people struggling to survive, particularly in the Palestinian territory's north.

A U.S. charity, World Central Kitchen, said it was loading aid onto a boat in Cyprus — the closest European Union country to Gaza — in the first shipment along a maritime corridor the EU Commission hopes will open on Sunday.

"Our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment's notice," said Open Arms, an NGO partner in the effort.

With ground access limited, countries have also turned to airdrops of aid. Canada became the latest to say it would join such missions, but a parachute malfunction turned one delivery deadly on Friday. It was not clear which country had undertaken the lethal airdrop.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said three more children had died from malnutrition and dehydration, with the total of such deaths now 23.

Another 82 people were killed in strikes over the previous day, the ministry said, bringing the number of fatalities in Israel's bombardment and ground offensive of Gaza to 30,960, mostly women and children.

Israel's retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas began after the movement's Oct. 7 attack on Israel resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that the volume of aid that can...