The Latest | Efforts ramp up to deliver aid to Gaza as US and Europe focus on a sea corridor

Efforts are ramping up to deliver more desperately needed aid to war-ravaged Gaza, with the United States and Europe focusing on opening a sea route in a signal of the West’s growing frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war

Efforts ramped up on Friday to deliver more desperately needed aid to war-ravaged Gaza, with the United States and Europe focused on opening a sea route, underscoring the West's growing frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war.

A top European Union official said a charity ship will head to Gaza as a pilot operation for a new humanitarian sea corridor. Ursula von der Leyen spoke in Cyprus, where she came to inspect preparations to send more aid to Gaza by sea.

Just hours earlier, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. military will set up a temporary pier on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. He unveiled the plan during his State of the Union address to Congress after last week approving the U.S. military airdropping aid into Gaza.

The plans follow an announcement Thursday by Hamas that negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of more Israeli hostages will resume next week, dimming hopes that mediators could broker a truce before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin at sundown Sunday.

After more than five months of war, much of Gaza is in ruins, and international pressure is growing for Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would halt the fighting and release the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israel’s near-total blockade of Gaza and the fighting have made it nearly impossible to deliver aid in most of Gaza, aid groups say. Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living in northern Gaza have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Over 100 hostages were released during a temporary cease-fire in November in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

The number of Palestinians killed has climbed above 30,800. That's according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures but says women and children make up around two-thirds of all casualties.

Currently:

— After months of warnings that Israel’s siege is causing famine, children begin to die in Gaza.

— President Joe Biden orders U.S. military to set up temporary aid port for Gaza as famine threatens.

— Analysis: First fatal attack on shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels escalates risk for a reeling Mideast

— Leading NGOs slam Israel’s halt in visa renewals for aid workers in Gaza and West Bank

— Violence in the Mideast and rising threats from Islamic State group in Afghanistan put pressure on the U.S. and its allies.

— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

ISRAELI PROBE SAYS TROOPS SHOT AT SOME PEOPLE AROUND A GAZA AID CONVOY LAST WEEK WHO WERE ADVANCING TOWARD THEM

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Friday said a review of the bloodshed surrounding an aid convoy last week that killed 118 Palestinians in northern Gaza showed that Israeli forces shot at some people in the crowd who were advancing toward them.

Israeli officials had initially said only that their troops had fired warning shots toward the crowd.

A large number of people met a pre-dawn convoy of trucks carrying aid to the war-wracked region on Feb. 29 and began scrambling to grab the food. Witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire on them.

The military said on Friday that about 12,000 people had gathered around the trucks as they were traveling toward distribution centers and began grabbing the food aid off them.

The military review of the incident showed the troops did not fire on the convoy itself, “but did fire at a number of suspects who approached the nearby forces and posed a threat to them,” the military said.

The military said many of the casualties were caused by a stampede over the food and people being run over by the aid trucks.

The United Nations said last week that a U.N. team that visited Shifa Hospital in Gaza City reported that there were “a large number of gunshot wounds” among the more than 200 people being treated for injuries there last week.

The director of Al-Awda Hospital said 80% of the 176 wounded brought there had gunshot wounds. The European Union urged an international investigation into the killings.

The violence surrounding the convoy brought in sharp relief the desperate need to get aid into the largely isolated region of northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people remain despite widespread devastation from the war between Israel and Hamas.

In the wake of the ill-fated convoy, the United States has begun airdrops of food to the region and announced plans to build a pier to bring in aid by sea.

ISRAELI STRIKES ACROSS GAZA KILL 78 PEOPLE IN PAST 24 HOURS, GAZA'S HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

DEIR Al-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Friday that 78 people were killed and 104 were wounded over the past 24 hours in Israeli strikes on different areas across the territory.

The latest figures raise the total Gaza death toll to 30,878 since the Israel-Hamas war started five months ago, according to the ministry. The overall number of wounded rose to 72,402. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said 72% were women and children.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known by the acronym UNRWA, said that about 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza over the past five months.

Israel launched its air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others.

UNRWA said in a post on X that on International Women’s Day, “the women in Gaza continue to endure the consequences of this brutal war.” Many of those killed are mothers who leave families behind, the agency said.

The agency said some of the women are giving birth without basic medical assistance. It said many lack menstrual hygiene products and privacy in exceptionally unsanitary living conditions.