Gaza hospitals reported that they were struggling to remain operational amid fuel shortages after Israel refused to allow supplies to enter Gaza. "Hamas can return the fuel it stole from UNRWA IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said late on Tuesday.
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The UN relief agency said its fuel supplies were running out and warned that without it Hospitals and bakeries would have trouble functioning and that the desperately needed services would not be available to many civilians. UNRWA called on the world to ensure the supply of fuel to Gaza warning that without it, aid and water would no longer be delivered by it.
Fuel is expected to run out on Wednesday and along with the destruction caused by Israeli air strikes, 25 of the 35 working hospitals in the Strip will collapse," Gazan officials said.
Israel, which had cut off its supply of electricity since the start of the war, prevented fuel from being delivered to Gaza with the humanitarian aid convoys, thus far. UNRWA warned that the aid would not be able to be delivered, without it.
With American and international pressure to bring aid into Gaza, amid concerns of a humanitarian crisis, a fourth convoy of aid entered the Strip from Egypt's Rafah border. According to UNRWA, eight trucks carrying water, food and medicine arrived although there should have been 20 trucks. The UN agency did not say why 12 of the trucks did not enter Gaza. CNN reported that in total 42 trucks have been brought in to Gaza, thus far.
"Hospitals are on the brink of collapse due to shortages of electricity, medicine, equipment, specialized personnel and the damage and destruction. Patients are being treated on the floors due to a shortage of beds. Doctors are being forced to operate without anesthesia," Lynn Hastings, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said adding that 600,000 people found refuge in UNRWA facilities.
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Injured in Israeli air raids arrive at Nasser Medical Hospital
(Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah / Getty Images)
She said 54 trucks with aid, that arrived in Gaza were a drop in the ocean and constituted 4% of imports before the war.
" Without fuel, our humanitarian operation will stop. No fuel means no hospitals functioning, no desalination of water and no baking. Many people are drinking saline groundwater, increasing the risks of diarrhea, cholera, and other health issues. We urge Israel to bring water and electricity supplies back to pre-conflict levels and to work with us to find a secure way of bringing fuel into Gaza. "