A ship with humanitarian aid for Gaza remains docked in Cyprus, a day after it was due to begin its journey.

A charity leading the mission told journalists that it was “a quickly evolving and fluid situation”, but it hoped the ship, Open Arms, would set sail soon.

On Sunday evening, the sighting of the new moon marked the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Gaza.

A ceasefire remains off the table as negotiations between Israel and Hamas have largely stalled.

The Open Arms’s mission is separate to US plans to start building a floating dock off the coast of Gaza to help get aid deliveries in by sea.

US President Joe Biden issued a Ramadan message on Sunday, and said the suffering of Palestinians would be in his “front of mind” as Ramadan arrived at “a moment of immense pain.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also marked the beginning of the holy month with a video message of “solidarity and support to all those suffering from the horrors in Gaza.”

The UN has previously warned a quarter of Gaza’s population is on the brink of famine, and children are starving to death there

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