National Security Council Head Tzachi Hanegbi addressed the decision to allow the introduction of fuel into the Gaza Strip despite the previous emphatic promises of the government to not do so.
Hanegbi noted that this decision came due to an American request to prevent the collapse of water sewage and treatment systems. “Yesterday, in the late hours of the night, the war conduct cabinet acquiesced to a special request of the United States to provide two tankers (of fuel) a day for sewage systems in the Gaza Strip, which were on the brink of collapse due to lack of fuel and inability to operate the sewage and water systems UNRWA operates,” he noted.
Hanegbi: “If there are outbreaks – the fighting will stop”
Hanegbi stressed that the introduction of fuel was meant to help stop the spread of diseases, among other things. “We don’t need diseases right now which will harm the civilians there and also our soldiers there. If we have diseases – the fighting will stop. We cannot continue fighting in conditions of humanitarian crisis and cries around the world.”
He also noted that “since we are committed to continue the fighting, we asked the defense establishment officials at the meeting, both the IDF and the Shin Bet, whether this decision harms operational goals, whether it helps Hamas, whether it harms the achievement of war aims. The unequivocal answer was that the American request can be accepted, and this was indeed the decision which was taken.”