A Palestinian girl holds a container as she waits to collect portable water, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct. 26, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images
TEL AVIV, Israel — The streets of Gaza are empty of cars. Many of its bakeries are shuttered; meat suppliers have no refrigeration. Doctors perform operations by flashlight.
Although 62 aid trucks have entered Gaza since last weekend carrying much-needed food, water and medical supplies, none have delivered fuel — which Israel has blocked over concerns it could be stolen and used by Hamas.
As a result, aid groups have escalated their warnings, saying the lack of fuel has reached a critical point. UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides relief to Palestinians, says it could run out of fuel within a day.
“The situation is terrible and it gets worse by the hour — not even by the day — every hour, things get worse and worse for people in Gaza,” Juliette Touma, an UNRWA spokesperson, told NPR.
Touma said fuel is needed for U.N. vehicles to collect aid from the border and distribute it across Gaza. Fuel is also used to power hospitals, where doctors have warned that people will die if life-saving medical equipment is forced to go out of operation.
The lack of fuel has also disabled water pumps and restricted an already limited food supply in Gaza, the U.N. warns.
The World Health Organisation has said it has trucks on standby across the border in Egypt with medical supplies. ” WHO calls for immediate and uninterrupted access into and across Gaza, so that it’s ailing…
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