DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The United Nations was forced to suspend deliveries of food and other essential items to Gaza on Friday and warned of the growing possibility of widespread famine after internet services and telephony will collapse in the besieged enclave due to a lack of fuel.
Israel announced that it will allow two tankers carrying fuel for the UN and communications systems to enter Gaza daily for the first time. The amount is about half what the UN said it needs to carry out life-saving functions for hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza, including supplying fuel to water systems, hospitals, bakeries and their trucks that deliver aid.
Israel has banned the entry of fuel since the start of the war, claiming that Hamas would divert it for military purposes. It has also blocked food, water and other supplies, except for a small amount of aid from Egypt that aid workers say falls far short of what is needed.
The communications blackout, now in its second day, largely separates Gaza’s 2.3 million residents from each other and from the outside world.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, was unable to bring in its aid convoy on Friday because of the communications blackout and will not be able to do so as long as it continues, spokeswoman Juliette Touma said.
“A prolonged blackout means a prolonged suspension of our humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip,” Touma told The Associated Press.
Palestinians rescue survivors after an Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, November 17, 2023.AP
Israeli forces have signaled they could expand their offensive into southern Gaza even as operations in the north continue. Troops have been searching the territory’s largest hospital for traces of a Hamas command center that the military said was located beneath the building.
The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel, in which militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 240 men, Women and children.
On Friday, the military said it found the body of another hostage, identifying her as Cpl. Noah Marciano. Marciano’s body was recovered in a building adjacent to Shifa, the military said, as was that of another hostage found Thursday, Yehudit Weiss.
Palestinians search for survivors after Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza Strip.AP
More than 11,400 Palestinians have died in the war, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 people have been reported missing and are believed to be buried under the rubble. The count does not differentiate between civilians and militants, and Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.
HELP DRYES UP
After a U.S. request, Israel agreed to allow two fuel tankers into the Gaza Strip each day, an amount that national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called “very minimal.” COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian affairs, said it would be equivalent to 60,000 liters (15,850 gallons) per day for the UN.
A U.S. State Department official said Israel also agreed to let in 10,000 liters a day (2,640 gallons) for the communications network.
Touma said UNRWA and other humanitarian groups need at least 120,000 liters (31,700 gallons) per day to perform life-saving functions. It was not immediately known whether the communications fuel would be enough to reactivate the network.
Gaza has only received 10% of the food supplies it needs each day in shipments from Egypt. AP
Since the war began, Gaza has received only 10% of the food supplies it needs each day in shipments from Egypt. The failure of water and sewage systems has left 70% of the population drinking brackish or contaminated water, causing an outbreak of waterborne diseases.
Dehydration and malnutrition are increasing and almost all residents need food, said Abeer Etefa, regional spokesperson for the U.N. World Food Program for the Middle East.
“People face the immediate possibility of starvation,” he said Thursday from Cairo.
MARCH FOR THE HOSTAGES
Israeli officials had previously promised that no fuel would be allowed in until Gaza militants freed the hostages. The government has been under heavy public pressure in Israel to show it is doing everything possible to bring back the men, women and children kidnapped in the Hamas attack.
A Palestinian gunman shoots into the air during the funeral of three Palestinians killed in a night attack by the Israeli army in the Jenin refugee camp.AP
Thousands of protesters, including families of more than 50 hostages, embarked on the fourth leg of a five-day walk from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Friday, chanting: “Bring them home!”
Protesters march the 70 kilometers (45 miles) to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, calling on the unpopular leader and his War Cabinet to do more to rescue their loved ones. They have urged the cabinet to consider a ceasefire or an exchange of prisoners in exchange for the hostages.
Hamas has offered to exchange all the hostages for some 6,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, something the cabinet has rejected.
CONDITIONS IN SHIFA
Speaking from Shifa Hospital on Friday, Dr. Ahmad Mukhalalti told Al-Jazeera television that there was no electricity to run ventilators or provide oxygen to ICU patients. He said most of the 36 children there suffer from severe diarrhea because there is no clean water to give them.
Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Noa Marciano in Modiin, Israel, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023.AP
Shifa director Mohammed Abu Selmia told Al-Jazeera that 52 patients have died since the fuel ran out a week ago, up from 40 deaths reported before Israeli troops stormed the site on Tuesday.
Others were on the verge of death because their wounds were “open and maggots were coming out,” said another doctor, Fiasal Siyam. His accounts could not be independently verified.
Abu Selmia said Israeli troops should bring them fuel to fuel equipment or allow an evacuation.
“The hospital has become a giant prison,” he said. “We are surrounded by death.”
The Israeli army said it delivered 4,000 liters of water and 1,500 prepared meals to Shifa. Abu Selmia said nearly 7,000 people were trapped there, including patients, staff and displaced civilians.
As its troops continue to search Shifa, Israel faces pressure to prove its claim that Hamas established its main command center inside and below the hospital. So far, Israel has mainly shown photos and videos of weapons caches it says its soldiers found inside.
Fetena, 20, was killed and six people were wounded in a shooting attack by three Palestinians at the checkpoint, who were shot dead at the scene.AP
On Thursday, the military released a video of a hole in Shifa’s courtyard that it said was the entrance to a tunnel. He also displayed several assault rifles and RPGs, grenades and ammunition magazines that he said were found in a pickup truck in the yard. The AP could not independently verify the Israeli claims.
The accusations are part of Israel’s broader accusation that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields throughout the Gaza Strip, maintaining that this is the reason for the high number of civilian casualties during weeks of bombing.
STRIKES IN THE SOUTH
Airstrikes continued to hit the southern sector of Gaza, where most of the territory’s population now takes refuge. Among them are hundreds of thousands of people who heeded Israel’s calls to evacuate Gaza City and the north to get out of the way of its ground offensive.
Palestinians walk along a damaged road after an Israeli military attack on the Jenin refugee camp.AP
In the Nusseirat refugee camp, an attack destroyed a building and killed at least 41 people, staff at the nearby hospital said. Residents said dozens more were buried in the rubble.
The early morning attacks on the outskirts of the town of Khan Younis killed 11 members of a family that had been evacuated from Gaza City. Dozens of injured people, including babies and small children, went to the nearby hospital.
At the morgue, Alaa Abu Hasira wept over the bodies from the attack, lined up side by side on the floor, including her son, daughter and several sisters. “All my loved ones are gone. All my loved ones are gone,” he sobbed.
So far, Israel’s ground attack has focused on northern Gaza as it vows to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.
Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians draped in flags of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad during their funeral.AP
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi said Thursday: “We are close to dismantling the military system” that was in the north. “More and more regions” will be targeted to eliminate Hamas, he said.
If the attack moves south, it is unclear where the Palestinians will be able to go. Egypt has refused to allow a mass transfer to its soil.
As the war continues to exacerbate tensions elsewhere, Israeli troops clashed with Palestinian gunmen in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, killing at least three Palestinians. Fighting broke out on Thursday night during an Israeli raid.
Israel’s military said five militants were killed. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three people were killed. The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the three dead as members and identified one as a local commander.
Keath and Jeffrey reported from Cairo. Associated Press journalists Najib Jobain in Rafah, Gaza Strip; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Edith M. Lederer in New York; and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
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