First truck carrying fuel arrives in Gaza

JERUSALEM/GAZA — The first truck carrying fuel into Gaza since the start of the Palestine-Israel conflict has crossed from Egypt to deliver diesel to the United Nations, as Israel presses its hospital raid despite mounting international calls for a cease-fire.

The delivery was made possible by Israel giving its approval for 24,000 liters of diesel for UN aid distribution trucks and not for use at hospitals, a humanitarian source said on Wednesday.

But it may do little to alleviate shortages that have hampered relief efforts. "This is only 9 percent of what we need daily to sustain lifesaving activities," Thomas White, director of UN relief agency UNRWA in Gaza, posted on social media platform X. He confirmed that just over 23,000 liters, or half a tanker, had been received.

"Our entire operation is now on the verge of collapse," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. "It is appalling that fuel continues to be used as a weapon of war."

Aid workers say a lack of fuel, which is needed for hospital generators, provision of water, sewage treatment and communications as well as relief distribution, has contributed to deteriorating conditions for Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

Deliveries of aid have been crossing from Egypt into Gaza since Oct 21, but Israel refused to allow in fuel, saying it could be used by Hamas for its fight against Israel.

The UN had warned in recent days that it would soon have to halt humanitarian operations as fuel stocks became fully depleted. It said fuel shortages threatened to shut down telecoms data centers and connection points within 48 hours.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted its first resolution since the outbreak of the conflict, calling for "urgent and extended humanitarian pauses" in Gaza to address the escalating crisis for Palestinian civilians.

Resolution welcomed

"We welcome any initiative conducive to the protection of civilians and the easing of the humanitarian crisis," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN.

"Meanwhile, it should also be pointed out that the council should have adopted a more comprehensive and robust resolution much earlier," he said.

In the southern part of Gaza, Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee, residents said on Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of operations to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into UN-run shelters and family homes.

Meanwhile, soldiers continued searching Al-Shifa Hospital in the north, in a raid that began early Wednesday but has yet to uncover evidence of the central Hamas command center that Israel has said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff members at the hospital, Gaza's largest, deny the allegations.

Broadening the offensive to the south — where Israel carries out daily air raids — threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory. Over 1.5 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.

Domestically, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down "immediately", without waiting until the end of the country's fighting against Hamas.

"Netanyahu should leave immediately … We need change, Netanyahu cannot remain prime minister," Lapid said on Wednesday in an interview with Israeli news channel N12.

In his interview with N12, Lapid did not call for early elections, but rather a no-confidence vote in Parliament that would allow for the formation of a new government led by another member of Netanyahu's Likud party.

In a statement posted to Telegram, Likud immediately rebuffed the call, saying such a proposal in a "time of war" was "shameful".

In Washington, US Capitol Police officers in riot gear clashed with dozens of demonstrators who gathered outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Wednesday evening to demand a cease-fire in Gaza.

The protest was organized by three advocacy groups and held in an area near the US Capitol. Lawmakers who were inside the building said police had evacuated them from the area.

Capitol Police said about 150 people were "illegally and violently protesting". It said six officers were treated for injuries, ranging from cuts to being pepper sprayed and punched. The organizers rejected allegations that demonstrators were violent.

Public demonstrations, both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel, have rippled around the world since the conflict began on Oct 7.

Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.

Agencies - Xinhua