Deadly fighting has raged in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, with no truce in sight on the eve of Ramazan as a dire humanitarian crisis gripped the besieged Palestinian territory, AFP reports.

A Spanish charity ship with food aid prepared to sail from Cyprus to the coastal Gaza Strip, where the UN has repeatedly warned of famine.

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required to meet basic humanitarian needs have been allowed into Gaza since October when Israel placed it under near-total siege.

About 370 kilometres from Cyprus across the Mediterranean Sea, Mohammed Harara stood on the shores of Gaza, hoping for the aid to arrive. “I’ve been waiting since this morning, because tomorrow is the start of the holy month of Ramazan and the situation is very tragic,” he said.

The non-governmental group Open Arms said its boat would pull a barge with 200 tonnes of food, which its partner the US charity World Central Kitchen would then unload on Gaza’s shores.

It was expected to depart “within the coming hours”, Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis told Cyprus News Agency.