A first consignment of fuel has entered Gaza after Israel bowed to US pressure for limited deliveries to allow wastewater treatment and the resumption of communications after a two-day blackout.
The first delivery arrived from Egypt late Friday as UN officials warned of an increasingly desperate situation for 2.4 million Palestinians, and pleaded for a ceasefire.
On the ground though, Israel pressed its offensive, combing Gaza’s largest hospital for the Hamas operations centre it says lies beneath.
Israel has vowed to “crush” Hamas in response to the group’s October 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 240 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The army’s air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, according to Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
Israel has imposed a siege on the territory, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring shipments of fuel over concerns Hamas could divert supplies for military purposes.
However, on Friday, Israel’s war cabinet unanimously agreed to allow two fuel tankers a day “to run the wastewater treatment facilities… which are facing collapse due to the lack of electricity”, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said.
“We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics,” he said.
A senior US official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for weeks to allow fuel in.বিস্তারিত