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After 42 days of massive offensive against the jihadist group Hamas in Gaza, Israel accepts for the first time the daily entry of fuel into the Strip, while local and international warnings about the serious humanitarian crisis increase.

The decision by Israel's war management cabinet, which contradicts its pledge not to do so without the release of those kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, coincides with the UN's announcement of the suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries due to fuel shortages and communication cuts.

International agencies have launched a new appeal for the entry of fuel and a ceasefire. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that people in the Gaza Strip face the "immediate possibility of starvation" due to a lack of food.

"The war management cabinet agreed to the U.S. special request to supply two tanker trucks for sewage treatment facilities in the Gaza Strip under the threat of collapse due to the lack of electricity and capacity for the UN-run sewage and water systems," the national security adviser said. Tsaji Hanegbi, who emphasized the need to prevent the spread of epidemics.

The decision was so criticized by some ministers that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to calm them down by calling the larger cabinet meeting for Saturday night.

"The influx of gasoline conveys weakness, gives oxygen to the enemy and allows Sinwar (Hamas leader) to sit comfortably in an air-conditioned bunker, watch the news and continue to manipulate Israeli society and the families of the abductees," protested Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrish, who is not part of the more restricted forum after the entry of Benny Gantz's centrist party.

The 60,000 liters per day of fuel oil authorized by Israel is vital, but it is a drop in the bucket. Hanegbi has pointed out in an internal message that this is 4% of the fuel that came in before the war, before those who condition the entry of fuel into Gaza to the return home of the 239 hostages.

The Israeli cabinet believes that without fuel in Gaza, Israel will no longer be able to count on the full support of the offensive and without it will not be able to end Hamas or increase pressure to agree to release more than 50 hostages as it says in the negotiations. According to Channel 12, Israel said there will be no agreement if the children and mothers are not released.

Sinwar is aware that the worsening humanitarian crisis benefits the interests of his armed wing as it increases international pressure on Israel for a multi-day ceasefire. Enough to freeze plans to extend its ground operation to the south.

According to Hamas, at least 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military offensive launched after its attack that killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel. Hanegbi takes stock of the ground operation that began three weeks ago: "21 days in which we paid a high price (52 soldiers killed) but we are already in the heart of Gaza City attacking all the places we wanted to attack. Thousands of terrorists were killed, and top commanders of terrorist groups will never commit monstrous atrocities again."

"We have shown in Rantisi and al-Shifa how Hamas uses hospitals for its terrorist activities," said Elad Goren, the official in charge of the civil affairs office in Gaza, noting that "Hamas needs the fuel for its actions in the tunnels."

The hospital controversy

After the army showed weapons and a tunnel hole in the Al Shifa Hospital compound with which it wanted to show that Hamas' armed wing was using it as a command center, the Islamists denied it and refused to hide hostages in hospitals. In addition, they announced the death of one of them "due to panic attacks he suffered as a result of the repeated shelling around his place of detention".

Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry called the Israeli allegation "false." Its spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, accused the soldiers of turning al-Shifa's facility into a "military base for their operations" after entering several areas on November 15. In addition, he assured that "24 patients died in the last 48 hours due to lack of electricity."

The director of the centre, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, sounded the alarm over the lack of fuel and medical supplies. "Sometimes, we are forced to let patients die, we can't perform any surgical operations on them, the only thing we can do is give them some painkillers so that the victims can die peacefully," he said.

The Palestinian prime minister with Borrell.Nasser NasserAP

"The needs are immense," admitted the head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in Ramallah, where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. After stressing Israel's right to defend itself in accordance with international law, Borrell pointed out the importance of contributing to the "giant effort" to meet the needs of the 2.2 million Gazans to whom, he said, the EU is quadrupling its assistance to almost 100 million euros.