More humanitarian aid flowed into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, but the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees warned that it would run out of fuel by Wednesday.
“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s commissioner-general. “Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.”
Lazzarini said UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — “is the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip.” He said it is currently supporting more than a half million people out of the million people displaced across the Gaza Strip.
But he said that “without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen.”
“I call on all parties and those with influence over them to immediately allow fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip and to ensure that fuel is strictly used to prevent a collapse of the humanitarian response,” Lazzarini said.
The fighting in Gaza has taken a toll on the relief agency, too, with UNRWA reporting that 29 of its staff members have been killed since the shock October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people.
Israel has since bombarded Gaza, with Palestinian officials saying nearly 4,400 people have been killed. Major buildings have been destroyed in the territory, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.
