Israel vs Hamas | Fuel crisis in Gaza. UN warns of looming mass starvation

Israel announced late Friday (November 17) 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.

FUNERAL HELD FOR 19-YEAR-OLD ISRAELI SOLDIER

The funeral of 19-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Marciano, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, was held Friday after Israeli forces in Gaza recovered her remains. Hundreds of mourners, many carrying Israeli flags, paid their respects to Marciano in her home town of Modi'in.

Her coffin, draped in the blue-and-white Israeli flag, was carried beside large photos of a smiling Marciano. In one photo, she wears a graduation cap and gown.

“Our Nooni, in a normal, just world, we shouldn't be standing here right now. But we are not in a just world. You were only 19 when you died,” Adi Marciano, her mother, said during the funeral service.

“We tried everything – 40 days in which we turned over every stone, searched every path and climbed every tree — and today, we ask for your forgiveness,” she said. “Sorry we didn't make it. You guarded us but we didn't guard you.”

RESIDENTS VOW TO REBUILD ISRAELI TOWN

Residents of an Israeli town on the border with Gaza vowed Friday to rebuild homes destroyed in the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants. Netiv HaAsara, which is just 3000 m from the Gaza border, was attacked and 20 residents were killed, after the gunmen passed over the concrete border wall using paragliders, according to Israeli military officials.

Resident Hila Fenlon, 46, pointed toward her neighbour's home which was gutted in the attack.

“Obviously, there was no escape from this house,” she said.

“It is a symbol to people who woke up one Saturday morning and vicious terrorists (came) and started to burn everything, to burn their lives down, and our victory will be to rebuild it. Our victory will be to make sure it won't stay burnt.” Moments after she spoke an air raid siren rang out and visiting residents dropped to the ground as rockets fired from Gaza were visible in the sky.

(With Agency inputs)