Efforts to secure a ceasefire before Islam’s holy month of Ramadan started a week ago repeatedly failed, with Israel saying it plans to launch a new offensive in Rafah, the last relatively safe city in tiny, crowded Gaza after five months of war.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is starting a two-day visit to the region, voiced concern about an assault on Rafah, saying there was a danger it would result “in many terrible civilian casualties”.
Israel’s ground and air campaign has killed more than 31 500 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The assault has also devastated the enclave’s-built environment, forcing nearly all the inhabitants from their homes, leaving much of the territory in rubble and triggering a massive hunger crisis that has alarmed even Israel’s allies.
Western countries have called on Israel to do more to allow in aid, with the UN saying it faced “overwhelming obstacles” including crossing closures, onerous vetting, restrictions on movement and unrest inside Gaza.
Israel says it puts no limit on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza and blames slow aid delivery on incapacity or inefficiency among UN agencies.
Air and sea relief deliveries into Gaza have started, but aid agencies say these are no substitute for bringing in supplies by land.
A first delivery into Gaza by the World Central Kitchen, pioneering a new sea route via Cyprus, arrived on Friday and was off-loaded, the charity said, with another ship ready. The United States and Jordan said they carried out an air drop on Saturday.
