Israel-Hamas war live: Israel allows 'minimal' fuel to Gaza

Phone and internet services have been partially restored in the Gaza Strip, according to telecommunications operators Paltel and Jawwal.

The partial restoration occurred after the entry of a limited amount of fuel to the Gaza Strip.

The AFP news agency reported that Gaza's border authorities said 17,000 liters of fuel had been delivered to the enclave on Friday.

Paltel announced a complete disruption in telecommunications services on Thursday, citing a lack of fuel for generators.

Israel has imposed a strict blockade on all goods entering the Palestinian territory since October 7, when Hamas fighters killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

Speaking to DW from the Jordanian capital of Amman, The United Nations' refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) communications director Juliette Touma said at least 120,000 liters of fuel are needed daily to resume humanitarian assistance.

Israel's war cabinet has approved letting two fuel trucks enter Gaza from Egypt per day.

"We have not been able to continue to deliver assistance today due to the lack of fuel and also due to the communications blackout. Gaza humanitarian work needs every single day at least 120,000 liters, including for UNRWA, to be able to resume humanitarian assistance. But I confirm once again that no fuel was received today by UNRWA in Gaza."

Touma warned that if no fuel arrives to Gaza, a "situation that is already very, very bad will become far worse."

"People will simply die. They will not have clean water. The bakeries anyway are not working, so they will not have bread. Our own fleet of cars that we use in the UN to deliver humanitarian assistance will not be able to work. Medical facilities will not have the ability to function. It's a disaster in the making. Or rather, it's a deepening of a humanitarian disaster."

In a joint press conference on Friday evening, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that Israel's right to self-defense must "not be called into question."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, continued his sharp criticism of Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, condemning "shooting hospitals [and] killing children."

Speaking with reporters during Erdogan's visit to Berlin, Scholz said it was "no secret" that he and the Turkish president had "very different views on the current conflict."

"This is precisely why our talks are important, especially in difficult moments we need direct dialogue with each other," Scholz said. 

The chancellor added that "Israel's right to exist is irrefutable" for Germany.

"There is no place for antisemitism in our country, regardless of whether it is politically motivated or religious, whether it comes from the right or the left, whether it has grown here for centuries or comes into the country from outside," he said. 

Erdogan added that if Germany joined Turkey in calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, there is a chance it could be achieved.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Friday that the death toll in the Gaza Strip during Israel's military operation, ongoing since the October 7 terror attacks, has reached 12,000.

The toll included some 5,000 children and 3,300 women, the Gaza health authority said. Some 30,000 more have been wounded.

Previously, the Health Ministry had said it could not give an exact figure of the fatalities due to the difficulty in recovering bodies amid the intense fighting.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday.

Ahead of the talks, Erdogan met with German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier, during which Steinmeier stressed Germany's position on Israel's "right to exist as well as its right to defend itself," according to a spokesperson. 

Erdogan has heavily criticized Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, and accused Israel of committing war crimes.

Israeli authorities have said the offensive aims to root out Hamas in Gaza in response to the October 7 terror attacks.

Since the attacks, the Turkish president has referred to Hamas militants as "liberators." The group is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the United States and the EU, along with other countries. 

The White House has condemned Elon Musk for repeating a "hideous" antisemitic conspiracy theory popularized by white supremacists on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

"It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of antisemitism in American history at any time, let alone one month after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said on Friday.

Bates was referring both to the October 7 Hamas attacks, which Israel has said left over 1,200 killed, with some 240 taken hostage, and the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue attack, during which 11 people died in what came to be known as the deadliest attack against Jews in US history.

Earlier on Friday, the European Commission said it told its services to halt advertising on X following a surge in disinformation and hate speech.

Commenting on a recent wave of antisemitism in Germany, Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to Germany, told DW that even before the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Jewish synagogues and schools needed to be protected, unlike churches or mosques.

"There's a lot of antisemitic actions taking place and [it] has no connection with the 7th of October," the ambassador said.

He added that he was surprised by the increasing number of antisemitic acts in Germany after Hamas' attacks on Israel.

"The fact is that Jews here in Germany... don't feel safe going to the S-Bahn or talking in Hebrew or putting a kippah," said Prosor, using another word for yarmulke.

Prosor also commented on the Israeli military's ongoing offensive in Gaza, saying the military is working there "slowly and cautiously."

"We are now moving over to the southern part of Gaza, because we have basically completed the issue in the northern part of Gaza," he said.

He added that Gazans who go to places that Israel defines as safe havens are "going to be safe inside."

According to Prosor, however, rockets are still flying out toward Israel from the south of Gaza. 

"Those places where they have rockets and they have weapons and they have infrastructure, we will go after them," the ambassador said, adding that Hamas' leadership and infrastructure will be destroyed.

Hamas is identified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the US, Germany and many other countries.

Since the beginning of the war, Israel has told residents of the Gaza Strip to move southward, with its military ground offensive so far mostly focused on the northern part of the territory. However, media outlets and humanitarian organizations have reported strikes in southern Gaza as well.

Israel will expand its military offensive in the Gaza Strip "to other areas," Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi announced on Friday, without specifying which areas.

"We are close to dismantling the military system in the northern Gaza Strip. As far as we are concerned — we will continue to other areas," the German DPA news agency quoted him as saying.

Halevi added that the Hamas militant group must be "systematically" eliminated, and its infrastructure destroyed. This would involve targeting more regions, he said.

Israel has for weeks called on residents of the Gaza Strip to move southward, with its military ground offensive so far mostly focused on the northern part of the strip. However, media outlets and humanitarian organizations have reported strikes in southern Gaza as well.

Israel's war cabinet has approved letting two fuel trucks enter Gaza from Egypt per day.

The fuel will give "minimal" support for water, sewage and sanitary systems in Gaza to prevent the spread of disease, according to an Israeli government official who remained anonymous.

Speaking to reporters, the official said the decision on Friday came after a request from Washington.

Aid organizations have complained that a lack of fuel has hampered humanitarian work. Israel's army has expressed concerns that fuel deliveries could be used by Hamas to carry out further attacks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is concerned about the spread of disease in the Gaza Strip.

"We are extremely concerned about the spread of disease when the winter season arrives," said Richard Peeperkorn,  the WHO's representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.

So far, more than 70,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and more than 44,000 cases of diarrhea have been record, he said.

The Israeli army's bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza has disrupted the health system and access to clean water. It has also caused people to crowd into shelters.

Peeperkorn said the hospitals that remain in operation in the Gaza Strip have around 1,400 beds — short of the 5,000 hospital beds needed to care for all the sick and injured in the territory.

Israel's army said on Friday that it has delivered more than 4,000 liters (1,050 gallons) of water and 1,500 ready-made meals to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

It added: "The well-being of civilians, including patients and staff, remains a priority."

The announcement comes as the United Nations said it was unable to transport aid into gaza on Friday due to fuel shortages and a communications shutdown.

"Supplies of food and water are practically non-existent in Gaza and only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders," World Food Program chief Cindy McCain said in a statement on Thursday.

Israel's army said on Friday that it killed "at least five terrorists" during an overnight operation in the Jenin refugee camp located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said four people were killed in a shootout at a checkpoint in Hebron.

Israeli soldiers and police officers shot dead "three Hamas terrorists from Hebron who planned to carry out a large shooting attack, and strike our troops," the IDF said.

"An IDF soldier was killed as a result of the attack," it added.

The US, EU, Germany and others categorize Hamas as a terror group.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it had recovered the remains of Israeli soldier Noa Marciano, who died after she was captured by the militant group Hamas on October 7.

"Her body was found and extracted by IDF troops adjacent to the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza," the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF said Marciano had been "abducted and murdered" by Hamas.

Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the EU, Germany and others, claimed the 19-year-old soldier was killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Critical humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing will not take place on Friday because of a collapse in telecom services, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said.

A lack of fuel to the besieged strip shut down all internet and phone networks on Thursday, the main Palestinian telecom provider said.

"We have seen fuel and food and water and humanitarian assistance being used as a weapon of war," Juliette Touma, the UNRWA communications director, told reporters in Amman, Jordan.

Touma said UNRWA can't operate because it has no fuel, and "It is simply outrageous that humanitarian agencies are reduced to begging for fuel."

Israel did provide UNRWA with limited fuel this week for the delivery of food, she said. No other infrastructure, like hospitals or water treatment plants, was allowed to use the fuel.

The first truck carrying fuel entered Gaza a day ago, and UNRWA said it was the "equivalent of half a truck! Not at all enough."

More than 11,400 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank, which has taken over tallying deaths in Gaza as the Hamas-led ministry in the enclave stopped publishing the information due to lack of fuel and connectivity. 

Neither of the Palestinian health ministries differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. Hamas is designated a terror organization by Israel, the EU, Germany, the US and others.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told American broadcaster CBS Evening News that Israel had "strong indications" hostages were held at al-Shifa hospital.

"We had strong indications that they were held in the Shifa Hospital, which is one of the reasons we entered the hospital," he said. 

"If they were [there], they were taken out," he added.

Israeli military raided the hospital, which is Gaza's largest, for a second day Thursday. Israel says Hamas militants maintain a command node at the hospital.

That claim has been denied by hospital staff and Hamas militants, considered a terror organization by the US, EU and others.