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19-11-2023
JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: Israel’s war cabinet says it will allow two fuel trucks into the Gaza Strip each day for the UN to continue aid work.
An Israeli official says fuel will give “minimal” support for water and sewage systems, and will be tracked to make sure it doesn’t reach Hamas.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says any fuel must go “hand-in-hand” with restoring phone lines, warning that otherwise any aid operation is “impossible”.
Israel says its troops have found the body of a second woman held hostage by Hamas, during a search close to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier, was one of about 240 people kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the 7 October atrocities, which killed 1,200 people.
Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted Israeli forces have not been “successful” in minimizing civilian casualties in Gaza but blamed Hamas.
More than 11,500 people have been killed in the territory since Israel began its retaliatory strikes, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It is now days since Israeli forces entered Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and what appears to be happening on Friday is that they are continuing their search for evidence of this being a key Hamas command centre.
We have to remember that there is no independent scrutiny inside the hospital; journalists cannot move freely into Gaza, and any who are reporting from the site are working under the aegis of the Israeli military.
If there was a nerve centre there and there has been speculation about that possibility since 2014 then the Israelis have not yet revealed definitive evidence of its existence to the outside world.
It is also possible that the Israelis have found something, and for their own reasons military or security perhaps have decided not to reveal it yet.
Why that would be the case is unclear, Israel has a lot riding on Al-Shifa.
The media has confirmed that Israel’s war cabinet is to allow two fuel trucks into Gaza each day.
An Israeli official says these will pass through the Rafah crossing, going via the United Nations to civilians in southern Gaza.
They say the condition is that the fuel must not reach Israel’s enemy, Hamas.
The Israeli official also said the fuel would provide “minimal” support for water and sewage systems to prevent outbreaks of disease. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
