Gaza fuel running out; hostage talks progressing

Syria says Israeli attack kills 8 soldiers

An Israeli attack on military positions in southwest Syria this morning killed eight soldiers and wounded seven more, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported.

Citing a military source, SANA said Israel’s “aerial aggression” targeted a number of military positions near the southwestern city of Deraa. The strike also caused material damage, it reported.

Israel’s military said earlier that its jets had struck Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers in what it described as a response to rocket launches from Syria toward Israel.

U.N. operations in Gaza could stop today if fuel is not supplied

The United Nations operations in the Gaza Strip could be forced to halt as soon as this evening as its fuel tanks run completely dry amid a continued blockade of the enclave by Israel.

The United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) has warned that it needs fuel urgently, or it will be unable to carry out its humanitarian mission for more than 2 million Palestinians caught in the fighting between Hamas and Israel.

UNRWA said fuel deliveries must be let in to ensure civilians have clean drinking water, hospitals can remain open and life-saving aid operations can continue. Other humanitarian organizations have also said that shortage of fuel makes distributing any aid that trickles in difficult, if not impossible.

It comes more than two weeks after Israel announced a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies after the bloody Hamas attack. The Israeli military has reiterated that fuel will not enter Gaza as long as it ends up in the hands of Hamas, which runs the enclave.

Time running out at overcrowded Gaza hospital

Agony and grief fill the halls of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, with wounded in the hallways.

“Forty percent of all of the wounded are children,” Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah said.

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has a bed occupancy of around 150%, according to the World Health Organization, which warns patients could die unless Gaza gets badly needed fuel.

Six hospitals across the Gaza Strip have already shut down because of lack of fuel, the WHO said.

Al-Shifa hospital supplies are dwindling. “We’re running out of everything from simple dressings to complex burn dressings,” Abu-Sittah said. The hospital has over 150 people on ventilators in intensive care.