By Zain Khali
JERUSALEM
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved a “minimal” increase in fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip to avert a humanitarian crisis, the Israel Broadcasting Authority said in a statement.
The decision came before referring it to the full Cabinet for final approval, under growing US pressure, according to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Israeli media did not specify how much of an increase in fuel supplies would be delivered through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt.
However, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said in a statement on X that the decision allows a minimal supplement of fuel – necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics – into the southern Gaza Strip.
The minimal amount will be periodically determined according to the humanitarian situation in the strip, the statement added.
With the end of the “humanitarian pause” last week, Israeli authorities made the decision to cut fuel for humanitarian aid in half. This decision will cost even more lives, warned Thomas White, director of UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, Sunday on X.
Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.
At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 43,616 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.
