European Union leaders have stopped short of calling for a

ceasefire in Gaza, instead appealing for humanitarian

“pauses” to provide aid, as the UN warned its operations
were being “paralyzed” by Israel’s bombardment of the
besieged enclave.

The communique, released after meetings Thursday in

Brussels, follows several failed attempts by the UN Security
Council to pass a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, with
member states preparing to vote on another draft resolution
– this time put forward by Jordan on behalf of Arab states –
on Friday.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told diplomats

gathered at the United Nations Assembly Hall that
“collective punishment is not self-defense.” The resolution
calls for a “cessation of hostilities,” the release of hostages,
and the rejection of “any attempts at forced transfer of the
Palestinian civilian population.”

More than 2 million people trapped in Gaza are living

through a deepening humanitarian crisis, hastened by daily
airstrikes and an Israeli blockade of life-saving fuel. Israel
says Hamas is stockpiling fuel for its own use and has
called on the militant Palestinian group that governs Gaza to
share it. Health services have been crippled by power
shortages and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been
forced to flee their homes amid the bombing.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 7,028 people in Gaza,

including thousands of children, since October 7, according
to figures released Thursday by the Hamas-controlled
Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Pressure is building on the international community to

persuade Israel to allow desperately needed aid into Gaza;
the United Nations and several countries in the region have
called for an immediate ceasefire, while others advocate for
a “humanitarian pause” in fighting.

People search for survivors and the bodies of victims in the rubble of buildings destroyed
during an Israeli bombardment, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on October 26, 2023.
Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images

But the world has so far failed to unite around a common

position on the crisis, nearly three weeks since the outbreak
of violence, sparked by Hamas’ brutal October 7 terror
attacks and kidnapping rampage that killed over 1,400
people in Israel and saw over 200 people taken to Gaza as
hostages.

Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan on Thursday said

requests for a ceasefire were “not an attempt for peace,”
but “an attempt to tie Israel’s hands, preventing us from
eliminating a huge threat to our citizens.”
“Israel is not at war with human beings, we are at war with
monsters,” he added, saying, “our goal is to completely
eradicate Hamas’s capability and we will use every means
at our disposal to accomplish this.”
In pictures: The deadly clashes in Israel and Gaza
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List of Gazans killed

The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza on Thursday
published a 212-page report listing thousands of
names described as “documented deaths since October 7”
in Gaza which it blamed on Israeli military “aggression.”

The ministry said the death toll is likely to be much higher

and said its report excludes casualties who have not been
identified, those buried without being brought to hospital for
registration, or those still missing – who number around
1,600.

The list, which does not distinguish between combatants

and non-combatants but which does list age, sex and the
victim’s ID card number, followed US President Joe Biden’s
comments that he had “no confidence” in the figures of
civilian casualties reported by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel, along with the US, has expressed doubts about the
casualty numbers being reported out of Gaza, but has not
provided evidence that they are exaggerated.

White House spokesman John Kirby called the Gaza-based

ministry “a front for Hamas,” though when asked he did not
dispute that thousands of Palestinians, many innocent
civilians, had been killed.

The prime minister of the US-backed Palestinian Authority in

the West Bank, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said the PA’s own
health authority considers the numbers to be “correct.”
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“They are our numbers,” Shtayyeh said in an interview

Thursday with Al Jazeera. “These numbers are fed to us
from the hospitals of Gaza every single day (and) are
received by our Ministry of Health.”

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is run by a rival

faction to Hamas, and operates the umbrella Ministry of
Health which maintains a relationship with the ministry in
Gaza. Death tolls for Gaza are released both in Gaza and
Ramallah daily.

CNN is not able to independently verify the death toll

tabulated in Gaza.

UN agency ‘paralyzed’ by lack of fuel

Israel has also accused Hamas of controlling life-saving fuel
supplies in Gaza, as basic services such as hospitals,
bakeries and UN humanitarian operations are on the verge
of shutting down due to a lack of fuel.
Juliette Touma, the communications director for the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the agency
will be forced to halt operations altogether if it does not get
enough fuel – crucial for generating power for hospitals and
desalinating water.

“UNRWA continues to struggle with very limited and

dwindling fuel supplies,” Touma said. “Rationing of
deliveries continues, including to medical facilities and
bakeries. UNRWA is being paralyzed due to the lack of fuel
deliveries into the Gaza Strip.”

The IDF said that the problem is not a lack of fuel in Gaza,
but that it is in the hands of Hamas.

She fled the Israeli army as a young woman. Now in her 90s, she is running
again

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN on

Thursday that Hamas controls “between 800,000 and
perhaps more than one million liters of fuel of different types
stored inside Gaza,” according to Israeli military intelligence
estimates.

“Some of it was stockpiled before, some of it stolen from the

UN, some of it’s stolen by Hamas from private vendors,” he
said.

CNN cannot independently verify the amount of fuel in Gaza.

Israel continues to block deliveries of fuel altogether to

Gaza, saying that Hamas would only divert it for military
use.

Speaking to CNN on Thursday, another UNRWA

spokesperson, Tamara Alrifai, said, “Whether or not other
sources of fuel exist in Gaza is of no direct relevance to us,
we are a human agency and we should not be begging for
fuel to nourish our own operations.”

With fuel rapidly running out, UNWRA is being forced to

make difficult decisions over diverting power between
bakeries and hospital wards with more than 600,000 people
now displaced and relying on a single piece of bread each
day, Alrifai added.

Twelve aid trucks carrying water, food, medicine and

medical supplies – but no fuel – entered Gaza from the Rafah
border crossing with Egypt on Thursday, according to the
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

A total of 74 trucks have entered the strip since

humanitarian aid transfers resumed several days ago,
PRCS said.

In normal times, the figure would be about 455 per day, the
United Nations has said, meaning basic supplies are
trickling into the enclave at a much slower pace than
needed.
The head of UNRWA warned the current aid provisions to
Gaza were just for “show” and “nothing more than crumbs,”
as he warned that hunger and disease were becoming major
issues in the besieged enclave.

“Over the last week, I followed closely the focus about the
number of trucks entering Gaza. Many of us saw in these
trucks a glimmer of hope. This is, however, becoming a
distraction,” Philippe Lazzarini said at a press
conference in Jerusalem on Friday.

“We should avoid conveying the message that few trucks a

day means the siege is lifted for humanitarian aid. This is
not true,” Lazzarini added. “The current system in place is
geared to fail. What is needed is meaningful and non-
interrupted aid flow.”

Overcrowded hospitals on the brink of collapse say they are

overwhelmed with the numbers of injured people and
doctors have repeatedly told CNN they don’t have the
supplies or the electricity to run critical functions to
properly care for them.
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