Shortage of fuel in the Gaza Strip. The effects can already be seen
1:21 PM EDT, October 25, 2023
The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) announced on Tuesday that it is suspending operations in the Palestinian Gaza Strip due to a lack of fuel supply. For the same reason, three hospitals in the Strip are paralyzed. Lack of fuel has stopped power generators.
The Health Minister of the Gaza Strip, Mai al-Kaila, who announced at a press conference in Ramallah about the paralysis of hospital work, emphasized that it is urgently necessary to create a safe corridor, through which the injured and the most severely ill patients can be transported to medical facilities in Egypt.
Out of fuel
The World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile conveyed that it is unable to deliver fuel and life-saving medical materials to hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza Strip because there are no safety guarantees.
The WHO appeals in a statement for an "immediate ceasefire, so that medical supplies and fuel can be safely delivered throughout the Gaza Strip."
The UN aid agency suspends operations
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier Tuesday in the Security Council said that in the Gaza Strip at least 35 UNRWA agency workers have been killed in Israeli bombings, and that there are violations of international humanitarian law on Palestinian territory.
On Saturday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini announced that his agency's workers are dying, even though since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, "UNRWA has regularly provided all parties to the conflict with the geolocation of all of its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip".
UNRWA is the only UN agency that deals with refugees(and their descendants) originating from only one region, whose situation is the result of only one conflict. The remaining refugees, who have fled from all other war-torn countries since the establishment of the UN, are taken care of by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In the clashes that have been ongoing for several days, more civilians have already died than in the previous four wars between Israel and Palestine - reported by the Associated Press on October 20, Eastern Time.
The current conflict began with an attack by the Palestinian Hamas, who on October 7 entered Israeli territory, murdering residents of border towns and abducting them to the Gaza Strip. More than 1,400 people were killed then, and at least 222 were abducted, including children, women, and seniors.
