Jerusalem, Dec 7 (EFE).- Israel has allowed a “minimal” increase in fuel supplies to the devastated Gaza Strip to prevent a humanitarian collapse, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, as Israeli bombardments continue to ravage the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“The security cabinet approved the recommendation of the War Cabinet to allow a minimal supplement of fuel—necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics—into the southern Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office wrote on the social media app X, formerly Twitter.
“The minimal amount will be determined from time to time by the war cabinet according to the morbidity situation and humanitarian situation in the strip,” the prime minister’s office said.
Since the start of the near-total Israeli military siege on the enclave on Oct. 7, when the war began, shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel have intensified in the region that has been under blockade for the past 15 years.
Fuel is crucial for generating electricity in Gaza, and the shortage has forced most hospitals to either close or operate at minimal levels, exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe.
In recent weeks, a limited amount of fuel, along with trucks carrying food and other essential supplies, has entered the strip through the Rafah crossing connecting Gaza with Egypt.
However, Gazan authorities, controlled by the Islamist Hamas group, have said the supplies have been insufficient given the worsening humanitarian situation due to the Israeli military offensive.
Israel continued its brutal military action on the enclave, focusing now on capturing the city of Khan Younis in the south, described as the third phase of the war.
Meanwhile, the situation in hospitals remains dire, lacking the capacity to care for patients and the injured, with epidemic diseases spreading.
Since the war began with a surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, resulting in over 1,200 deaths and more than 240 hostages taken to Gaza, the Israeli military has killed 16,200 Palestinians in the last two months of the military assault. EFE
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