United States President Joe Biden on Thursday (Dec 7) held a telephonic discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where he stressed the “critical” need to safeguard the civilians as grave urban battle seethed around Gaza’s biggest cities, the White House said in a statement.
“The president emphasized the critical need to protect civilians and to separate the civilian population from Hamas including through corridors that allow people to move safely from defined areas of hostilities,” the White House said in a statement.
This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged Israel to do more to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and make necessary efforts to protect civilians in the Palestinian territory, in a phone call with Israeli Foreign Minister Ron Dermer, said a US official.
Blinken welcomed Israel’s decision to approve a “minimal” increase in the fuel supply to the conflict-torn besieged Palestinian enclave.
However, he also asked Dermer to make more efforts in that direction, a senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Israel approves ‘minimal’ increase in fuel supply to Gaza
Israel allowed a “minimal” increase in the fuel supply to conflict-torn Gaza in order to prevent a “humanitarian collapse”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Security Cabinet, this evening, approved the recommendation of the War Cabinet to allow a minimal supplement of fuel – necessary to prevent a humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics – into the southern Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office wrote on X.
“The minimal amount will be determined from time to time by the War Cabinet according to the morbidity situation and humanitarian situation in the Strip,” it added.
The move by Israel came after the United Nations warned of a complete breakdown of public order in Gaza as the conflict intensifies in the south of the Palestinian territory.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres feared the public order would “completely break down soon” in Gaza.
“Amid constant bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible,” he said in a letter to the UN Security Council.
Guterres told the council in his letter that the war “may aggravate existing threats to international peace and security.”
He invoked Article 99 of the founding UN Charter, allowing him to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”
(With inputs from agencies)
