The UN aid agencies are cutting back their work in the Gaza Strip because they have almost run out of fuel.
A little bit of fuel is being taken from existing fuel supplies to keep the water supply working in the south. Many people are staying there to stay safe from the strikes by Israel.
But, they will finish on Thursday.
The organizations claim that they have decreased their help for busy hospitals and bakeries providing food for people who have been forced to leave their homes.
Juliette Touma from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, told the BBC that the situation in the Gaza Strip is unlike anything we have ever seen before.
Two million people are being choked or suffocated. Very little help is being given to Gaza from outsiders and it is causing a lot of suffering.
Israel started a bombing mission in Gaza, stopped the supply of electricity and most water, and blocked the delivery of food, fuel, and other items. They did this in response to an attack by Hamas on October 7th, where at least 1,400 people died and 224 were taken as hostages.
Gaza’s health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says that more than 7,000 people have died in Gaza since then. The health system is in a very bad state, with about one third of hospitals not working properly and the rest only able to help with emergency situations.
Since Saturday, at least 74 trucks carrying food, water, and medical supplies have entered Egypt through the Rafah border crossing. However,Touma believes that this is a small amount compared to the huge demand for these essentials. Before the war, around 500 trucks were permitted to enter Gaza each day.
MsTouma said that Unrwa urgently needs fuel to keep helping the 629,000 displaced people living in its facilities. Many people in the northern part of Gaza had to leave their homes because the Israeli military said it was safer for them to do so.
We are the biggest group that helps people in need, and we are about to stop doing our work. We are not allowed to do what the UN General Assembly told us to do. All we want is to be able to do our work, she said.
Israel is not letting fuel deliveries enter because they think it might be used by Hamas for their military activities. Israel sees Hamas as a terrorist group, and so do the UK, US, and some other powerful countries.
The Israeli military spokesperson, Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, said in a video on a social media website named X that they don’t want the hospitals or all of Gaza to run out of fuel.
But he suggested that Unrwa should ask Hamas to give them some of the large amount of fuel that the military says is being kept in tanks near the border with Egypt.
“He said there is plenty for hospitals and water pumps to operate for several days. ” The main things that are important are not the same. Hamas wants to keep all the fuel for their ability to fight in wars, which means normal people won’t have any fuel for themselves.
When asked about the claim, the UN’s regional humanitarian chief, Lynn Hastings, said to the BBC that they do not have any information about Hamas having access to any other fuel.
I understand that Israelis are worried about this, and it’s justified. We are trying to talk to the Israelis about getting enough fuel for the humanitarian work.
Ms Hastings said that if Gaza’s hospitals don’t have fuel for their back-up generators, they won’t be able to take care of around 1,000 patients who need kidney dialysis treatment, 130 premature babies who are in incubators, and patients in intensive care who need ventilators.
Gaza’s water desalination and pumping stations would stop working too.
Right now, there is not much clean water for drinking. So, people have to drink dirty or salty water, or sometimes both.
This means that when there is no electricity, the sanitation system gets clogged because it can’t pump sewage into the sea. We expect sewage to flow onto the streets very soon.
Ms Hastings also said in another statement that the Israeli military was still telling people in Gaza City to leave even though they had nowhere to go or couldn’t move.
She cautioned that when the roads for leaving are attacked, when people in both the north and south are involved in fighting, when there is not enough of what is necessary to stay alive, and when there is no guarantee of being able to come back, people are left with very difficult decisions.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said that Hamas is using civilians to protect themselves and preventing them from leaving south.
The statement said that in the past, they have used different ways to accomplish their goals, such as setting up roadblocks.