JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel’s war cabinet has agreed to allow 140,000 liters of fuel into Gaza every two days, after a request from the United States to meet fuel needs in the enclave, the government said on Friday. Israeli and American authorities.
Israel has imposed a strict blockade on goods entering the Gaza Strip as part of its military offensive launched following the Hamas attack on its territory on October 7, which left 1,200 dead. Hamas also took around 240 hostages.
Israel has allowed two tanker trucks per day into the Gaza Strip to help meet the fuel needs of the United Nations (UN), an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A US State Department official said Israel was allowing the entry of 120,000 liters of fuel every 48 hours for trucks of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East. East (UNRWA).
This fuel will also be used for water desalination, pumping wastewater and operating bakeries and hospitals in southern Gaza.
Some 20,000 liters of fuel will also be authorized every two days for the generators of the telecommunications operator Paltel, which has warned of the risks of a total breakdown of its mobile network due to the fuel shortage.
US officials are pressing Israel to allow fuel into the Gaza Strip. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday appealed to members of the Israeli war cabinet, warning them of the risks of a humanitarian catastrophe for the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip due to shortages in fuel, the State Department announced.
By authorizing the entry of fuel, Israel is also seeking to give itself additional room for maneuver on the international scene to continue its campaign to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli official.
(Reporting Ari Rabinovitch; French version Kate Entringer and Zhifan Liu)
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