The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah may offer an end to fighting, but it's just the beginning of the work ahead for American University Hospital in Beirut.

Hospital officials say fuel shipments are expected to arrive this Thursday, ending the fuel shortage that many feared would force the hospital to shut down. The Blotter has been reporting on the desperate attempts by the U.N. to arrange for safe passage of the oil tanker Afrodite wading just outside Cyprus.

According to Dr. Nadim Cortas, Dean of the American University Medical Center, the hospital is already filled to 75 percent capacity and preparing for an incoming transfer of wounded patients from southern Lebanon. A quarter of the patients currently in the hospital, Cortas said, were wounded in the firefights between Israel and Hezbollah that began July 12.

"Things are improving. We're hoping to get some relief soon," acting University President George Tomey told ABC News this morning. "We've been told that some fuel will arrive Thursday [through a sea route]."

Tomey was unsure whether the Thursday delivery would mean that the Afrodite would pull into the port of Beirut. University officials and representatives of Tsakos Energy Navigation, which owns the Afrodite, have told ABC News that a smaller vessel might ferry between the tanker and the port of Beirut carrying the much-awaited fuel.

Tsakos CFO Paul Durham told ABC News last week that the Afrodite would not attempt to move into Lebanese waters until an unequivocal ceasefire had been declared. That ceasefire took effect on Monday morning, though since then there has been a smaller scale exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Israel's sea blockade of Lebanon continues. Reuters reported this morning that according to an Israeli military source, an air and sea blockade would remain until the implementation of an arms embargo that would prevent the rearming of Hezbollah. The Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

"The hostilities have stopped. We're just hoping this will hold," Tomey said. "We're hoping for better days."