The statements come as President Joe Biden called for a humanitarian pause in Gaza and U.N. officials warned that aid agencies, water treatment plants and bakeries there may soon run out of fuel.
Israel, which has allowed a limited number of trucks carrying food, water and medicine into the enclave, continues to ban deliveries of fuel, which it says Hamas will use for military purposes.
Hamas, meanwhile, has repeatedly demanded fuel deliveries to Gaza during negotiations to allow foreign nationals to leave the enclave and in talks about the release of 240 people it kidnapped.
The Israel Defense Forces released an intercept Wednesday of a call between what it said was a commander of Hamas’ Western Jabaliya Battalion, a Gazan resident and the director of the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza.
Current and former U.S. and Israeli officials agree that, even if Hamas is hoarding fuel, the international community has a responsibility to provide humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians.
The U.N. has issued almost daily warnings that its Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East will not be able to operate humanitarian services, including hospitals, because it does not have enough fuel.
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