Aid convoy breaks into besieged Gaza: Israel bans fuel supplies

The White House promised a “continuous flow” of aid into Gaza after a second convoy entered Gaza on Sunday and Israel continued to shell the besieged enclave in the early hours of Monday, The Guardian reported.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in a telephone call that “the flow of… critical aid into Gaza will now continue,” the White House said after a second convoy of 14 trucks entered Gaza through the border crossing. Rafah checkpoint.

The UN has warned that the amount of aid flowing into Gaza is just 4% of the daily average before fighting began and a fraction of what was needed as supplies of food, water, medicine and fuel run low.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body in charge of Palestinian civil affairs, said the second shipment of aid delivered on Sunday included water, food and medicine and that everything had been checked by Israel before being sent to Gaza. Israel has not allowed any fuel to enter Gaza.

The delivery came as Israel continued to carry out airstrikes in Gaza, focusing on the center and north of the strip, Palestinian media reported, adding that early Monday morning strikes targeted areas near three hospitals.

Gaza’s health authority said Israel’s two-week bombing had killed at least 4,600 people, many of them women and children. The conflict erupted after Hamas militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking 212 hostages in Gaza.

In a statement released Sunday, the leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain called on Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law and protect civilians, while emphasizing their support for Israel and its right to self-defense.

Their calls come amid growing fears that the war could escalate into a wider Middle East conflict, The Guardian notes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Sunday that Washington expects the conflict to escalate due to interference by Iranian proxies.

Washington has already sent a significant amount of naval assets to the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, support ships and about 2,000 Marines, to help deter attacks by Iran-linked forces.

Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian discussed ways to stop Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza in a telephone conversation late Sunday, Hamas said in a statement.

Israeli aircraft struck two cells of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon early Monday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. As violence escalates around its heavily guarded borders, Israel on Sunday included 14 communities near Lebanon and Syria in its contingency evacuation plan for the north of the country.

During a visit to troops in northern Israel, Netanyahu said that if Hezbollah goes to war, “it will make the mistake of its life. We will hit him with a force he cannot even imagine, and the consequences for him and the Lebanese state will be devastating.”

The Israeli government also warned that anyone who remains in northern Gaza risks being viewed as an “associate of a terrorist organization” as it intensifies attacks on the region.

For days, Israel was on the verge of launching a ground offensive into Gaza, with tanks and troops massed along the border awaiting orders to cross.

Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Admiral J. Daniel Hagari, said the country has increased the number of airstrikes in Gaza to hit targets that will reduce the risk to troops in the next phase of the war.

The World Health Organization said seven hospitals in northern Gaza were forced to close due to damage from the strikes, shortages of power and supplies or Israeli evacuation orders.

Medical staff in Gaza have warned that hospitals are running out of medicine and fuel for generators, forcing doctors to perform operations using sewing needles, use vinegar as a disinfectant and operate without anesthesia.

Despite the arrival of a second aid convoy on Sunday, US World Food Program executive director Cindy McCain said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic”. Before the last war, four hundred aid trucks entered Gaza every day, she said, adding that her organization needed “safe and sustainable access … so we can feed the people.”