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Displaced Palestinians gather to collect donated food before breakfast on Tuesday, the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Loay Ayyoub for The Washington Post)

Middle East conflict live updates Patchwork of aid efforts seeks to feed Gaza by land, air and sea

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Humanitarian groups and several governments are stepping up efforts by air, land and sea to ease the suffering in aid-starved Gaza. A ship carrying 200 tons of food departed Cyprus for Gaza on Tuesday, the same day a U.S. military aircraft dropped 5,280 pounds of food into northern Gaza and Israel allowed a World Food Program convoy to deliver food for 25,000 people in Gaza City. Aid groups say the spiraling humanitarian disaster is particularly bad in the north, where some 300,000 people live on the brink of famine.

Key updates
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The shipment of aid from Cyprus, which should take several days, stands to be the first delivery via a new maritime route announced by the United States and its allies last week. But it represents only a fraction of the amount of aid needed after five months of war. Here’s everything we know about the mission so far.
The Pentagon dispatched four Army vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean to set up a temporary pier on Gaza’s coast that can receive aid supplies, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. The pier will be operational in 60 days, he said.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal announced a lawsuit against Columbia University over what they said was the unlawful suspension of the chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace “for engaging in peaceful protest.” The school suspended the groups last year, accusing them of holding protests that contained “threatening rhetoric.”
The White House repeated concerns about a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city that houses more than 1 million displaced Palestinians. The president cannot support “a military operation in Rafah that does not protect civilians, that cuts off the main arteries of humanitarian assistance, and that places enormous pressure on the Israel-Egypt border,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
At least 31,184 people have been killed and 72,889 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and says 249 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.
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The shipment of aid from Cyprus, which should take several days, stands to be the first delivery via a new maritime route announced by the United States and its allies last week. But it represents only a fraction of the amount of aid needed after five months of war. Here’s everything we know about the mission so far.
The Pentagon dispatched four Army vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean to set up a temporary pier on Gaza’s coast that can receive aid supplies, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. The pier will be operational in 60 days, he said.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal announced a lawsuit against Columbia University over what they said was the unlawful suspension of the chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace “for engaging in peaceful protest.” The school suspended the groups last year, accusing them of holding protests that contained “threatening rhetoric.”
The White House repeated concerns about a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah, the southern Gaza city that houses more than 1 million displaced Palestinians. The president cannot support “a military operation in Rafah that does not protect civilians, that cuts off the main arteries of humanitarian assistance, and that places enormous pressure on the Israel-Egypt border,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
At least 31,184 people have been killed and 72,889 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and says 249 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.
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Israel-Gaza war

Israel-Gaza war: Amid dimming hopes that an Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage-release deal will be reached before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, President Biden has ordered the U.S. military to construct a temporary port and pier on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to open a new route for providing humanitarian aid.

Middle East conflict: Tensions in the region continue to rise. As Israeli troops aim to take control of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing, officials in Cairo warn that the move would undermine the 1979 peace treaty. Meanwhile, there’s a diplomatic scramble to avert full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon.

U.S. involvement: U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed dozens of Iranian-linked militants, according to Iraqi officials. The strikes were the first round of retaliatory action by the Biden administration for an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members.