UN says first fuel delivery to Gaza in 130 days ‘isn’t sufficient’ for humanitarian operations

The UN announced the first delivery of fuel into the Gaza Strip in 130 days on Thursday, but said it was far from sufficient to sustain humanitarian operations, Anadolu reports.

Citing the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference that “yesterday, a UN team managed to bring in about 75,000 liters of fuel from Israel into the Gaza Strip. This is the first such provision in 130 days.”

He warned, however, that “the amount entered yesterday isn’t sufficient to cover even one day of energy requirement.”

“Fuel is still running out, and services will shut down if greater volumes do not enter the Gaza Strip immediately,” Dujarric stressed, adding that the UN and its partners need “hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel each day to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining operations going.”

READ: UNRWA: Banning international media from Gaza aims to hide atrocities against Palestinians

Saying that a humanitarian partner in the enclave reported this week that within days fuel shortages could cut off clean drinking water for around 44,000 children, Dujarric noted that it would also “further increase” the risk of water-borne illnesses such as cholera, diarrhea and dysentery.

Emphasizing that the Israeli military continues operations across Gaza, Dujarric said: “This morning, people waiting to get nutritional supplements were reportedly struck in Deir al-Balah.”

He cited reports by the Al-Aqsa Hospital that “dozens of casualties” occurred, in which “the majority of whom were women and children.”

Dujarric also noted a strike on a humanitarian partner’s office in Gaza City, with three staffers killed.

In the occupied West Bank, Dujarric said Israeli military operations and illegal Israeli settler violence have led to mass displacement, including a July 3 attack that displaced another Bedouin community, the ninth fully displaced community in the Ramallah and Jericho area since January.

READ: Gaza’s population drops by 10% amid Israel’s genocidal war