UNRWA warns of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ as 3 days of fuel left in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) yesterday warned of a complete cessation of humanitarian response in the besieged Gaza Strip if fuel is not allowed to immediately enter the enclave.

“In three days, UNRWA will run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in a statement, explaining that “without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.”

“No fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza.”

UNRWA is the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip. 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.

He called on all parties and those with influence over them to immediately allow fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip and to ensure that fuel is used to prevent a collapse of the humanitarian response.

“UNRWA is currently hosting more than half a million people out of nearly 1 million displaced across the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Director UNRWA Affairs – Gaza, Thomas White, said in press statements that the status of humanitarian aid is both terrible and very limited where food and water have become “scarce.”

“We need a sustainable supply line of aid to avoid a catastrophe in the Strip.”

Back into #Gaza with the first convoy
The situation is dire – people are just surviving – food is becoming scarce – clean water is limited @UNRWA sheltering over 1/2 M displaced people
Humanitarian supplies very limited
We need a sustained pipeline of aid to avert a catastrophe pic.twitter.com/rzp35mmrFA

— Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) October 21, 2023

“No fuel is coming into Gaza. Fuel is really critical now, we need it coming in to keep aid operations going,” he said.

Yesterday 14 trucks of aid containing food, water and medicine, crossed from Egypt into Gaza, a day after another 20 aid trucks arrived in the enclave.

For the sixteenth day in a row, the Israeli army continues bombing Gaza with intense air strikes killing over 4,700 Palestinians, a majority of them women and children.

There are also an unspecified number of people still missing under the rubble.

Read: More than 400 killed by Israel in Gaza in 24 hours