A man holds a child, both injured in an Israeli bombardment, as they receive treatment at a trauma ward in Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 24, 2023.AFP
After 18 days of withering Israeli air strikes and a near-total land, sea and air blockade of the Palestinian territory, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) warned operations were at breaking point.
"If we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip," said the UN agency, which provides aid to 600,000 displaced Gazans.
Aid agencies report hospitals are overwhelmed, generators lack fuel and shelters are heaving under the weight of an estimated 1.4 million displaced -- more than half the population.
Since the war began, a few dozen trucks with essential supplies have been allowed to cross the Egyptian border into Gaza, far fewer than needed, according to aid agencies.
The Palestine Red Crescent said on Tuesday it had received the fourth batch of humanitarian aid, consisting of eight trucks.
The supplies have included medicines, food and water, but not fuel, which Israel claimed could end up in Hamas's hands.
On Tuesday, The U.N. health agency called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza to be able to distribute fuel and essential, life-saving health supplies, including to major hospitals in the strip’s northern half.
“For people in the Gaza Strip, the situation is desperate. It will become catastrophic without the safe and continuous passage of fuel and health supplies, and additional humanitarian assistance,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.
The WHO said some health facilities in northern Gaza, including the territory’s largest Shifa hospital, were waiting for supplies and fuel. Among them is the Indonesian hospital, which suffered a brief power outage and was forced to shutter some critical services due to lack of fuel.
Gaza’s only oncology hospital, the Turkish Friendship Hospital, remains partially functional, putting around 2,000 cancer patients at risk, the agency added.
Supported by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the health agency said it delivered 34,000 litres (about 9,000 gallons) of fuel Monday to four major hospitals in southern Gaza and the Palestine Red Crescent. That was only enough to keep ambulances and critical hospital functions running for a little over 24 hours.
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