The main United Nations agency in Gaza says it will stop helping people within a day if they don’t receive fuel. This would be very bad for civilians who depend on this help.
Though some help has gotten to Gaza from Egypt, it only consisted of food, water, and medicine, not fuel. Israel has said no to letting fuel go into Gaza because they believe that the Hamas attack on October 7th was very violent. They think that the fuel would only be used by the group to help them fight against Israel.
If the UNRWA runs out of fuel, it might only be able to go on for one day. We have already said that if we run out of fuel tonight or tomorrow, we, as the biggest UN group in Gaza, will not be able to continue working. The organization originally mentioned that it would have to stop operations on Wednesday evening.
The UN officials said that the current supplies are not enough for the 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza. They also said that the supplies won’t be of much help if there is no fuel to collect and distribute the aid.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said that if there is no fuel, it will be impossible to bring aid, hospitals won’t be able to operate, and water won’t be clean or available.
Doctors in very busy hospitals that are close to closing down have been saying over and over again that if we don’t bring fuel, people injured in bombings and babies needing oxygen will die.
The UN officials are concerned about the recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that killed over 700 people in just one day. This is the highest number of deaths in a single day since Israel started targeting Hamas in Gaza two and a half weeks ago. This information was reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
According to Juliette Touma, the UNRWA is providing shelter for around 600,000 individuals in Gaza. “Touma said, UNRWA is their only source of support and help. ”
The director of UNRWA in Gaza, Tom White, said to CNN that aid workers would have to choose which parts of vital aid they can and cannot give to people.
“Do we give fuel to desalination plants to make drinking water. Can we give fuel to hospitals. Can we give the necessary fuel for making bread that is feeding people in Gaza. ” he asked
UNRWA was created after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to help Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes and become refugees. They provide important help and support to these people. It started in 1950 and has been renewed many times.
In addition to helping people in need, UNRWA also offers education to around 300,000 students in Gaza. These numbers are from the 2021/22 school year. Many people in Gaza have had to leave their homes because of fighting. They are now finding shelter in schools.
However, White expressed concern that if there is not enough fuel, the agency might have to reduce or stop its activities. This is happening even though some aid is starting to come in through the Rafah crossing. White did not say when the process would start, but emphasized that the agency needs fuel to work. “He said that even if there are convoys in Gaza, we won’t have the fuel in our trucks to gather or deliver that help. ”
“We have to find a way to solve the fuel problem, or else our effort to provide aid will be forced to stop,” White informed CNN.
The worsening health situation in Gaza, with dirty water and poor sanitation, is causing concern that a health crisis may happen. This crisis could lead to people dying from dehydration because the water system is failing and there are ongoing bombings.
Only 8 out of the planned 20 aid trucks were able to go to Gaza as scheduled on Tuesday, according to UNRWA. There is no clear explanation as to why the other 12 trucks couldn’t go through the Rafah crossing.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that six hospitals in Gaza had to shut down because they didn’t have enough fuel. This happened because of the Israeli siege that started two weeks ago.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that there are 1,000 patients who rely on dialysis and 130 premature babies, along with other vulnerable patients, who need a constant supply of electricity to stay alive. These people are at risk of death or health issues if the electricity supply is not stable.
The Israeli army, known as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), has decided that they will not allow any fuel to enter Gaza. They believe that Hamas, a group in control of Gaza, would use the fuel for their own needs, like running their operations and launching rockets.
Israel has argued that there are no problems with lack of fuel in Gaza. In response to UNRWA’s message on X about limited supplies, the IDF shared a picture taken from above showing fuel tanks in Gaza. They said that these tanks contained over 500,000 liters of fuel. CNN cannot confirm the statement made by the IDF.
Israel’s leaders have promised to completely eliminate Hamas as a response to the deadly attacks and kidnappings they carried out on October 7. During these events, approximately 1,400 people, mostly innocent civilians, lost their lives and over 200 individuals were taken as hostages.
After the attack, Israel started continuously bombing Gaza from the air. According to Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza and the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, this has led to the death of over 6,400 individuals and has injured an additional 17,000.
Palestinian officials said that more than 700 people were killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours. The ministry said that there were 305 children, 173 women, and 78 old people who died.
Around two million individuals, including many children, live in the small coastal area of Gaza, which spans 140 square miles.
Al Jazeera reported that the leader of their team in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, tragically lost his wife, son, and daughter in an attack by Israeli airstrikes. The explosion happened at a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of Gaza Strip where a family was staying because they had to leave their own home.
CNN cannot say for sure where the explosion at the house came from, and Al Jazeera did not provide proof that it was caused by an Israeli attack. CNN has asked the IDF for a response, but they haven’t given an answer yet.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said that killing innocent people is a consequence of fighting wars and asked Israel to try their best to prevent civilian deaths.
“I believe that innocent people have died, and it is something that happens when you are fighting a war,” Biden stated in a press conference held in the Rose Garden on Wednesday.
Israel needs to be very cautious and make sure that they are targeting the people who are causing conflict with them, instead of innocent civilians. “They don’t want that to happen because it goes against what they want. ”
Biden also mentioned that he did not trust the numbers of civilians who died that were given by the health ministry in Gaza controlled by Hamas. “I don’t believe that the Palestinians are being honest about the number of people who are killed,” he said.
Right now, there is an argument happening between Israel and the UN. The Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, asked for a temporary stop to the fighting and expressed worry about the clear breaking of the rules meant to protect people in Gaza.
Guterres criticized Hamas’ terrifying and unprecedented terrorist attack on October 7th. However, he believes that this attack should not lead to punishing all Palestinians together.
“It is crucial to understand that the attacks by Hamas did not happen without any context,” Guterres mentioned during his speech to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Israeli officials were very angry and upset by what he said. The ambassador of Israel to the United Nations, GIlad Erdan, said that Guterres is not suitable to be the leader of the UN and asked him to resign right away.
Almost three weeks have passed since the fighting started, but the Security Council of the United Nations cannot agree on what to do about the crisis. On Wednesday, two different proposals about the issue were introduced by the US and Russia. However, none of them were approved.
The resolution from the US suggested having breaks to help people in Gaza, instead of completely stopping the fighting, so that essential assistance can be provided to the civilians. The United States stopped a proposal from Brazil to take a break for humanitarian reasons.
The US disagreed with demands for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. A spokesperson from the National Security Council named John Kirby told CNN that Hamas must let go of the hostages they have in Gaza before a ceasefire can happen.
According to CNN, negotiations are happening to free a lot of people who are being held by Hamas in Gaza. However, the talks are difficult because of various reasons.
The United States, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and Hamas are currently discussing things together. Four people who were being held against their will – two from America and two from Israel – have been released up to this point. But the current goal is to make an agreement for a larger number of hostages to be set free all at the same time.
Israel has not yet entered Gaza by land, and the US has asked Israel to wait longer in order to free more people held captive by Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen stated that Israel’s goal is to bring the hostages back to their homeland, while speaking outside the UN on Tuesday.
Cohen said that there are babies, twins, and holocaust survivors who are being kept captive. Our mission is to rescue and bring them back home.
American military advisers have told Israelis to not launch a full-scale attack on Gaza and to stay away from the kind of brutal city fighting that the US experienced in Iraq. The goal is to prevent the Israelis from getting stuck in bloody, building-to-building combat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to be telling soldiers on Tuesday that a ground attack was still planned, saying, “we are about to enter the next phase, it is about to happen. ”
In a TV speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu talked for the first time since the October 7 attack about his own involvement in the security failure.
“He said that this will occur after the war. ” “As the leader of the country, it is my duty to protect the future of our nation. Right now, I need to guide our country and its people to achieve a decisive victory over our enemies. ”