Israel will allow two fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza to support collapsing water and sewage systems and to avoid the spread of disease following an appeal by the U.S. to allow fuel to be delivered into the region.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Advisor, Tzachai Hanegbi confirmed the news in a press conference on Friday, in a move that could give Israel diplomatic breathing space as it comes under increasing pressure from the international community to agree to a ceasefire and spare civilian lives.

But shortly after that announcement, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said that 24 patients at a hospital in war-torn Gaza had died within 48 hours due to power outages, as Israeli forces searched the complex for Hamas hideouts.

"Twenty-four patients... have died over the last 48 hours" at Al-Shifa hospital "as vital medical equipment has stopped functioning because of the power outage," Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Gaza evacuations into Egypt suspended

Evacuations from the Gaza Strip into Egypt for foreign passport holders and for Palestinians needing urgent medical treatment were suspended on Friday, three Egyptian security sources and a Palestinian official said.

The Palestinian official and an Egyptian medical source said the suspension was due to problems bringing medical evacuees to the Rafah border crossing from inside Gaza.

Limited evacuations from Gaza to Egypt began on November 1 and were paused twice in the past week due to bombardments that aid staff said hit or targeted medical convoys.

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The Egyptian sources said several dozen foreign passport holders and their dependents as well as a small number of medical evacuees had entered Egypt on Friday before crossings were suspended.

On other days, several hundred foreign passport holders, dual nationals and dependents had been crossing.

Early on Friday, Gaza border authorities published a list of those newly authorised to cross, including groups from Canada, Romania, Russia, Brazil and Poland.

Aid agencies call for ceasefire

International organizations and aid agencies called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire to end a "haemorrhage of human lives" in Gaza, warning that the situation could quickly spiral out of control. 

They made their appeals at a conference in Paris intended to coordinate aid and assess how to help people wounded in Gaza since Israeli launched its ground and air offensive in response to an attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7. 

Representatives of Arab nations, Western powers and members of the Group of 20 major economies were among those attending the conference, but Israel was not invited and few heads of state, government or foreign ministers were there. Expectations for concrete results are low if there is no pause in fighting. 

Participants were set to discuss a proposal to create a maritime corridor to ship humanitarian aid into Gaza or evacuate the wounded, the establishment of field hospitals and financial assistance to ease the growing humanitarian crisis. 

WHO warns against forced hospital evacuations

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the forced evacuation of hospitals in the Gaza Strip would put the lives of hundreds of patients at risk as he called the situation on the ground "indescribable".

"Twenty-three hospitals have been ordered to evacuate in Gaza City and north Gaza, and forced evacuation in these circumstances would put the lives of hundreds of patients in a life threatening situation," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

At a press conference in Geneva, Tedros also reiterated the call for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war to help the thousands injured, as well as the chronically sick.

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