Tankers and fuel trucks have begun entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt as part of a humanitarian pause in hostilities reached by Hamas and Israel.
It was established that the aid trucks in question were transporting fuel and gas used in kitchen bottles.
Israel’s blockade of the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip made it impossible for hospitals to operate because they were left without electricity, ambulances did not work, and doctors performed surgical operations with cell phone lights.
In the first week of the conflict in Gaza in early October, the only power plant in the region stopped generating electricity due to a lack of fuel.
Later, the fuel needed to operate the generators used for hospitals, telecommunications companies, health centers and extracting water from wells ran out.
Israel agreed today to allow two fuel tankers a day into the Gaza Strip for UN needs and for water and sewage systems, an unnamed Israeli official said. The decision was made by the War Cabinet based on the recommendation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli security forces, as well as at the request of US officials.
An unnamed Israeli official said “the intention is to allow for the minimum maintenance necessary for the water, sewage and sanitation systems to prevent disease from spreading throughout the area, as well as our own forces and potentially Israel.” EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčić called today to ensure the delivery of fuel to Gaza for humanitarian organizations.
For the first time since the start of the war against Hamas on October 7, Israel only recently allowed only one truck with 23,000 liters of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. The fuel was delivered to the UN to help distribute aid after trucks on the Palestinian side stopped due to shortages.
Due to a shortage of fuel for electric generators, telephone connections and the Internet were cut off on Thursday, cutting off the Palestinian enclave from the world. Human Rights Watch has warned that diseases such as cholera and typhus could soon begin to spread through Gaza because people lack access to clean water.
Israel imposed a siege on Gaza two days after the Hamas attack and cut off the supply of water, electricity and fuel. Limited amounts of water are now arriving from Israel and Egypt, but most people have to drink water from a local supplier “irresponsible for human consumption,” the AP reported. The War Cabinet’s decision provoked the anger of two ultra-right ministers, members of the Government, who judged it to be a bad policy, because the Red Cross has not yet visited the 240 hostages taken by Hamas to the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported.
“Stop supplying fuel to the Nazis from Hamas,” announced the leader of the opposition party Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beytenu) Avigdor Lieberman on the “X” social network.
He also opposes the delivery of fuel until the hostages are released. An Israeli official said today that the fuel gives Israel additional room to maneuver before the international community so that it can continue its campaign to “destroy Hamas” in Gaza, the agencies reported, Beta reports.
