TRANSCRIPT:
For weeks, aid agencies have been warning of critical shortages of food and fuel in Gaza.
Now Israel has announced it's allowing limited supplies of fuel in.
Head of the National Security Council of Israel Tzachi Hanegbi says two trucks of fuel per day will be permitted so that Gaza’s communications system - which is currently in a partial blackout - can get back up and running, and water and sewage services can keep operating.
"The war cabinet agreed to a special request by the United States to supply two tankers per day for the waste water treatment facilities in the Gaza Strip, which are facing collapse due to the lack of electricity and the lack of the ability to operate the sewage and water systems operated by UNRWA. The decision was intended to prevent the spread of disease."
Despite the turnaround, UN agencies have spoken of an increasingly desperate situation for the 2.4 million Palestinians trapped inside the besieged territory, which Israel has been pounding by land and air for the past six weeks.
The United Nations says it's been forced to stop deliveries because there's not enough petrol for the trucks.
Juliette Touma from the U-N agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA,says thousands of people depend on that aid.
“The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is absolutely overwhelming. Every single day, the number of people who come to seek shelter in UNRWA facilities is on the rise. We have so far more than 800,000 people who continue to flock into these facilities in search of safety, in search of humanitarian assistance, in search of protection."
The number of people killed since the start of the conflict has now surpassed 12,000, and scores of others have been displaced.
That figure is set to grow, with Gazans in a key southern city, Khan Younis, again warned to relocate west in the latest indication Israeli forces plan to attack Hamas in the south, after subduing the north.
Israeli soldiers also continue their controversial operation at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says the bodies of two hostages have been found on the grounds, prompting Israeli troops to search the complex for traces of Hamas.
"We continue to deepen the operational activity at the Shifa hospital to locate underground infrastructure - today we located more underground infrastructure - and collect every bit of information about the kidnappings, and the abductees. Our forces are currently operating in the area investigating and checking the operational shafts on the grounds of the hospital."
Hamas has denied the existence of a command centre at Al-Shifa, calling for international search crews to initiate an investigation on its grounds.
Meanwhile calls for a ceasefire continue to come.
The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammed Shtayyeh has repeated his call for a ceasefire so aid can be provided to the people who are in need.
"What we need immediately is an immediate cease-fire. And the ability for us to provide food. There are people who have not eaten for days. There are kids who don't know what a drop of water looks like. It's going to be a rainy season and kids and families are in the cold, in the open air."
But the European Union's High Representative wants a longer term solution.
During a visit to Rammallah on the West Bank, Josep Borrell has called for a political resolution to the situation in Gaza, arguing that the conflict is the outcome of a collective political and moral failure of the international community.
"We must seize the momentum to invest in peace and to work towards a solution of the conflict. We have to mobilise the international support for the political process to a two state solution, a process that has been neglected for too long. The two states solution is the only viable path to peace."
Meanwhile, in Australia, the conflict is raising questions about social cohesion.
There have been reports of prejudice against both local Jews and Muslims - but Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says concern for what is happening in the Middle East is no excuse for bigotry in Australia.
"Everyone must be able to worship and to practice their faith, without fear, intimidation, or interference. There is no place for prejudice, no place for antisemitism, and no place for Islamophobia in Australia. Australians are rightly distressed by the events that are unfolding in he Middle East. So we are very concerned about the level of social cohesion."
