Live updates | Israel will allow 'very minimal' fuel into Gaza, as UN warns of possible starvation

Israel announced on Friday that it will allow for the first time “very minimal” daily shipments of fuel into Gaza for use by the UN and communications system.

Aid agencies say the lack of fuel has forced them to call off deliveries of basic necessities in the Gaza Strip. They warned of possible widespread starvation in the besieged enclave because of the lack of fuel, and said most people in Gaza were without adequate food and clean water.

Israel earlier said it found the body of another hostage in a building adjacent to Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. The hospital has been the focus of clashing narratives over who is to blame for the widespread suffering of Palestinian civilians during the war between Israel and Hamas.

At least 11,470 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people are reported missing.

Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group launched its October 7 incursion. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial attack, and around 240 were taken captive by militants.

Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war: ISRAEL WILL ALLOW 140,000 LITERS OF FUEL INTO GAZA EVERY 48 HOURS, US OFFICIAL SAYS WASHINGTON — A US State Department official said Friday that Israel has agreed to allow 140,000 litres (36,984 gallons) of fuel into Gaza every 48 hours through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The first deliveries are expected Saturday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations between the US and Israel.

The fuel will be delivered to the fuel depot in the Gaza side of the border and distributed from there. The official said 120,000 lites (31,700 gallons) will be reserved for UN agency for Palestinian refugees trucks carrying humanitarian aid, as well as water desalinisation, well and sewage pumping, solid waste disposal, bakeries and hospitals. The other 20,000 litres will be for generators used by Palestinian telecoms provider Paltel in order to restore communications networks.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Israeli Cabinet Minister Ron Dermer and told him that a “major catastrophe” was imminent without Israel following through on the agreement in principle to send fuel to southern Gaza that had been forged during Blinken's last meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet. Dermer told Blinken that the war cabinet would vote shortly.

On Thursday, Blinken called Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet, to repeat the message of urgency.

MARCHERS TREKKING TO NETANYAHU'S OFFICE CARRY IMAGES OF HOSTAGES JERUSALEM — Thousands of marchers embarked Friday on their fourth leg of a five-day walk from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli government to bring some 240 hostages abducted by Hamas back home.

The marchers, who included relatives of more than 50 hostages, are traversing the 70 kilometres (roughly 45 miles) to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, calling on him and Israel's War Cabinet to do more to rescue their loved ones. They expect to complete the march on Saturday.

The families have called upon the War Cabinet for more information on the whereabouts of their loved ones and to consider a cease-fire deal or a prisoner exchange to free their loved ones.

Hamas has offered to release all the hostages in exchange for some 6,000 Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails, but the Cabinet has rejected the proposal. The Cabinet has also been adamantly opposed to any cease-fire agreement.

Four hostages have have been released through international diplomacy involving Qatar, while a fifth was rescued by Israeli troops. Israel has confirmed the deaths of two hostages.

ISRAELI OFFICIAL SAYS VERY MINIMAL' AMOUNT OF FUEL APPROVED FOR GAZA JERUSALEM — Israel's national security adviser says the country's War Cabinet has agreed to allow two tanker trucks of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip each day, a quantity he described as “very minimal.” Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Tzachi Hanegbi said the fuel would be allowed for Gaza's communications system and water and sewage services. He said the deliveries are intended to prevent the spread of disease without disrupting Israel's ability to continue its war against the Hamas militant group.

''We don't want diseases that could harm the civilians who are there and our forces. If there are diseases, the fighting would be halted. We cannot continue fighting in the event of a humanitarian crisis or an international outcry,” Hanegbi said.

Hanegbi said the fuel amounted to roughly 2 per cent to 4 per cent of the normal quantities of fuel that entered Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7.

The office of Israeli lawmaker and former defense minister Benny Gantz, a member of the three-person War Cabinet, said the agreement would allow 60,000 litres (15,850 gallons) of fuel to enter Gaza over the next 48 hours.

Hanegbit said the War Cabinet “agreed to a special request by the United States to supply two tankers per day” for Gaza..

The War Cabinet says it agreed to the US request on the recommendation of the Shin Bet internal security agency and the army.

ISRAEL'S WAR CABINET APPROVES SMALL FUEL SHIPMENTS INTO GAZA JERUSALEM — Israeli officials say the country's War Cabinet has unanimously approved small shipments of fuel for humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.

The officials said they would allow two tanker trucks of diesel fuel each day for the United Nations to support water and sewage infrastructure in the besieged territory.

Israeli officials have all but banned fuel shipments into Gaza since the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that triggered Israel's latest war with the Islamic militant group.

The Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement, said the decision had come in response to a request from the United States.

A lack of fuel has caused communications systems in Gaza to collapse, forcing aid agencies to halt cross-border deliveries of humanitarian supplies.

Israel says the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas from using fuel for military purposes.

BATTLE IN THE WEST BANK LEAVES AT LEAST 3 DEAD AND 15 WOUNDED JERUSALEM — Israeli troops and Palestinian militants exchanged fire in the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank during an army raid and at least three Palestinians were killed, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday.

Jenin has long been a flashpoint, and the military has carried out near-nightly operations there since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza six weeks ago.

Gunbattles erupted in several locations, also drawing in fighters from Hamas, the militant group battling Israeli forces in Gaza. At one point, an Israeli aircraft targeted militants who threw explosives toward Israeli forces, the Israeli military said. The military said it killed five militants in the raid and arrested 15 Palestinians.

Airstrikes were once a rare attack mode in the West Bank but have grown increasingly common since war began.

Israel said its forces unearthed explosives under some streets and confiscated weapons, ammunition and surveillance equipment from a vehicle and two militant command centres.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said that once at the hospital, Israeli forces detained and searched paramedic crews. Videos posted to social media by the organization showed Red Crescent paramedics with their hands raised in surrender, leaving the hospital building and walking slowly to stand in front of several Israeli military trucks lined up outside the hospital.

Palestinian health officials, who do not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, said that 15 Palestinians were injured in the raid, four of them seriously.

DOZENS ARE KILLED OR INJURED FROM STRIKES OVERNIGHT IN SOUTHERN GAZA KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel bombarded two homes in southern Gaza late Thursday and Friday morning, according to survivors accompanying those killed and wounded in the strikes to the main hospital in Khan Younis.

An Associated Press journalist witnessing the arrivals said he saw three dead and dozens injured, including babies and young children, from Friday's strike. The attack late Thursday killed 11 members of a family who had fled the main combat zone in Gaza City in the northern part of Gaza earlier in the war.

The strikes hit Bani Suheila, an area east of Khan Younis, located in the southern half of Gaza. Early in the war, now in its sixth week, Israel told civilians to flee the north and head south for their safety.

On Wednesday, Israel dropped leaflets over Bani Suheila and other nearby areas, calling on residents to leave yet again and seek shelter elsewhere. The leaflets triggered fears that Israel is expanding its offensive, which is currently focused on northern Gaza. The south of Gaza is already crammed with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who have nowhere else to go.

The Israeli army rarely comments on individual airstrikes but says the attacks are aimed at Hamas operatives and targets.

Mohammed Zaqout, the head of Gaza's hospitals, said a total of 35 people were killed in airstrikes in Khan Younis and the nearby town of Rafah overnight.