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Israel Will Allow Limited Deliveries Of Fuel To Gaza For Aid Needs, US Officials Say
A truck carrying a limited delivery of fuel crosses into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Israel has agreed to allow in a greater amount of fuel for humanitarian use.
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Said Khatib
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AFP via Getty Images
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After more than a month into its siege on Gaza, Israel has agreed to allow 140,000 liters, or about 37,000 gallons, of fuel into the territory every two days for humanitarian needs, a U.S. State Department official said Friday.
Most of the fuel will be allocated to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, which has said it needs fuel for trucks to distribute aid and to power water pumps, desalination plants, hospitals and bakeries.
The remainder will be delivered to telecommunications company Paltel, a Palestinian, to help keep phone and internet service available in the Gaza Strip, which is run by the militant group Hamas.
The fuel deliveries could begin as soon as Saturday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive diplomacy.
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Israel had blocked the delivery of fuel over concerns that Hamas could steal it for military purposes. Israel also said that Hamas had its own fuel reserves that could have supplied hospitals and bakeries. Hamas has denied stealing fuel meant for humanitarian purposes.
What we know so far
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Death toll and casualties
- Israeli officials report an attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. In addition, they say about 250 people were taken hostage, some have since been released.
- Gaza health officials have reported more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
— NPR (Jan. 24)
But reserves in Gaza had run out, the U.S. official said. Even the limited deliveries of aid had come to a halt Thursday after UNRWA announced that the lack of fuel and communications service made it impossible to manage or coordinate the aid convoys.
Israel had come under intense pressure in recent days to allow in fuel, both publicly from aid groups and behind the scenes from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials.
"I do believe that it is outrageous that humanitarian agencies are reduced to begging for fuel and forced after that to decide who will we assist or not assist, when you have such a large population in a lifesaving situation," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Thursday.
Repeated blackouts of phone and internet service also have hampered humanitarian efforts, aid groups told NPR, in addition to preventing Palestinians from contacting family both inside and outside of Gaza.
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The fuel will be restricted to use in southern Gaza. Israel's ground invasion has focused on northern Gaza, especially the area around Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are still thought to be sheltering. Israeli airstrikes continue to hit across the territory.
"We need the fuel to make sure that our humanitarian support staff and workers can get from one place to another. If we don't have the fuel, we can't do that," Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, told NPR. "It does many things. It powers generators, which is what we need for the incubators in the hospitals. It powers water sanitation efforts."
Since Oct. 7, the day of the deadly Hamas attack on Israeli towns around Gaza, Israel's military campaign has killed at least 11,470 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which added that communications issues over the past week have caused "challenges in updating casualty figures."
Understanding how we got here
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The history of this region is both complicated and fraught. Here is some context about what led up to the most recent attacks and counterattacks.
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NPR's Aya Batrawy and Daniel Estrin called the initial attack "one of the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory" adding there are "concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries in the Middle East."
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- This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Oct. 7, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.
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NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab reported on the history of the Gaza Strip. Some key excerpts:
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- The Gaza Strip is a 25-mile-long by 6-mile-wide enclave, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south.
- Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel controls its airspace and shoreline, as well as what goods can cross Gaza's borders.
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NPR's Fatma Tanis examined how we got here and what might come next in this longstanding conflict.
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For anyone looking for guidance on how to talk to children about this war:
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Here's the latest on a growing movement on college campuses nationwide, as students organize against Israel's war in Gaza.
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Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit npr.org.
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