The first fuel truck has entered conflict-ridden Gaza from Egypt since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Egyptian media. The fuel would be delivered to the United Nations “to facilitate the delivery of aid after trucks on the Palestinian side stopped operating for lack of fuel,” AFP reported, citing an Egyptian source.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that handles Palestinian civil affairs, had said earlier that “UN trucks transporting humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing will be refuelled at the Rafah crossing, per US request.” Witnesses at the Egyptian border said two more trucks were waiting to pass through the crossing.
This comes hours after media reports that Israel had given approval for 24,000 litres of diesel fuel to be used by trucks for United Nations operations in the Gaza Strip. Aid agencies in the enclave say a chronic lack of fuel has hampered efforts to deliver food, water and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza.
The fuel is only meant for UN trucks, and not for hospitals, the humanitarian source told Reuters. The United States pressured the UN to accept the fuel, they added. Citing US and Israeli sources, Axios earlier reported that Israel plans to allow trucks used by the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA in Gaza to refuel on Wednesday at the enclave’s Rafah crossing with Egypt.
Gaza health officials have suspended operations at many of the enclave’s hospitals due to lack of fuel and other supplies. Colonel Moshe Terto, who heads an Israeli defence ministry body that handles civil affairs in Gaza, said Israel is monitoring the fuel situation “on a daily basis”. “(We) will coordinate and facilitate the entrance of fuel when it (is) needed,” Terto said.
(With agency inputs)