Abdullah Abu Deif (Gaza, Cairo)
UNRWA confirmed that it received about 23,000 liters of fuel yesterday, or only 9% of its daily needs to continue life-saving activities in the Strip.
Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza, Thomas White, said, “The Israeli authorities have restricted the use of fuel to only transporting aid from Rafah, so that it is not used for hospitals or to provide water.”
The UN official added that the depletion of fuel led to the cessation of all three sewage pumps in Rafah, and the desalination plant in Khan Yunis, which provides water to hundreds of thousands of people.
He pointed out that all the wells in Rafah, which are the only source of water in the city, have stopped pumping water due to running out of fuel, adding that Al-Amal Hospital, affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent, has stopped all its services except emergency, with no fuel for ambulances, stressing that Humanitarian aid must be distributed based on needs, not conditions imposed by parties to the conflict, and all of the agency’s operations are now on the verge of collapse.
He pointed out that “by the end of yesterday, about 70% of Gaza’s population will not be able to obtain clean water, as obtaining fuel for trucks only will not save people’s lives anymore, and waiting any longer will lead to loss of life.”
UNRWA spokesman Kazem Abu Khalaf said in a special statement to Al-Ittihad that Israel required UNRWA to use fuel to operate its vehicles to transport relief materials and injured people from hospitals to the Rafah crossing or to those with dual nationalities and not to use it in any way to operate hospitals or Water desalination plants.
The UNRWA spokesman pointed out that the quantity entering the Gaza Strip after about 40 days of military escalation does not meet 9% of the requirements and maintains the crisis of non-operation of hospitals, water desalination plants, and most of the daily life factors in the stricken Gaza Strip since the seventh of last October.
The UNRWA spokesman did not confirm the possibility of entering the same quantity on a daily basis during the coming period, as it was not benefited according to the ongoing negotiations between the concerned authorities and international organizations. He hoped that fuel would be allowed to enter in sufficient quantities and that hospitals would operate at full capacity to receive the large number of injured people in the Gaza Strip.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are suffering from a clear crisis, as 22 hospitals have stopped working due to a severe fuel shortage, which is exacerbating the health crisis.
In a related context, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Catherine Russell, confirmed that what she saw and heard during her visit to the Gaza Strip was “heartbreaking,” adding that there is no safe place for children, who number one million.
In a press statement, Catherine Russell condemned “the grave violations committed against children, which include killing, mutilation, kidnapping, attacks on schools and hospitals, and preventing the arrival of humanitarian aid,” noting that more than 4,600 children were killed in Gaza, according to reports, and about 9,000 others were injured, and many others were missing. They are believed to be buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and houses.
She explained that this is the tragic result of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, noting that newborn babies who need specialized care have died in a Gaza hospital as electricity and medical supplies run out, and violence continues with random effects.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Russell met a number of patients and displaced families searching for shelter and safety.
The UN official confirmed that the intermittent opening of Gaza border crossings to shipments of humanitarian supplies is insufficient to meet the tremendously increasing needs, stressing that the need for fuel may become more urgent as winter approaches.
The Executive Director of UNICEF called on all parties to ensure the protection and support of children, in accordance with international humanitarian law, to immediately cease fire for humanitarian reasons, and to ensure safe, sustainable and unhindered access of humanitarian agencies to those in need with all life-saving services and supplies.
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, said: News of a military attack on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza is very disturbing, expressing their fear for the safety of the medical staff and patients.
He added in his blog post on the “X” platform, yesterday, that “their communications with the health staff inside Al-Shifa Hospital were cut off again.”
Yesterday at dawn, the Israeli army stormed the Al-Shifa Medical Complex west of Gaza City, where the complex also includes civilians who were displaced from their homes.
#Gaza #Strip #receives #fuel #shipment #start #war