The continued violence followed weeks of negotiations that included Egypt, the United States and Qatar to secure a new cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas before Ramadan that would have included a release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and Israel setting free Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas negotiators said when departing talks in Cairo last week that cease-fire negotiations would resume this week.
Israel’s military said its operations included conducting airstrikes and ground attacks in Khan Younis and other areas of southern Gaza, as well as in central Gaza.
The health ministry in Gaza said Monday that 67 people had been killed in Israel’s offensive during the past day, with at least 31,112 killed since war began in October.
A U.S. Army ship is on its way to the Mediterranean Sea on to start construction of a temporary pier on the Gaza coastline to provide passage for more truckloads of humanitarian aid to famished Palestinians, but officials said it could be as long as two months before the facility is built and operating.
The eventual plan is for more food and medical supplies to be dispatched to the temporary pier in Gaza from nearby Cyprus after Israeli forces inspect the cargo to make sure no weaponry is included for Hamas militants.
The temporary pier is needed because Gaza has no port infrastructure and Gaza has been under an Israeli navy blockade since 2007, when Hamas took control of the enclave. There have been few direct sea arrivals since then.
A Spanish charity ship carrying food aid was expected to soon set sail from Cyprus. The nongovernmental group Open Arms said its vessel would carry 200 tons of food, which its partner, the U.S. charity World Central Kitchen, would then unload on the shores of Gaza where it had constructed a basic dock.
The conflict started October 7 with the shock Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies and led to the capture of about 250 hostages.
The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving and that the daily number of aid trucks entering Gaza by land over the past five months has been far below the 500 that entered daily before the war because of Israeli restrictions and security issues.
The U.S. Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into northern Gaza on Sunday, dropping more than 11,500 meal equivalents, as well as other food including rice, flour, pasta and canned food into the territory.
But officials say the airdrops are insufficient to cover the vast food needs in Gaza. Five people were also killed days ago when a food pallet hit them.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
