Humanitarian operations, banking and communications services could cease in the Gaza Strip within days if fuel supplies to the enclave are not restored immediately. This was stated at a briefing in Geneva by Georgios Petropoulos, head of the Gaza office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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“The current situation in Gaza has reached an unprecedented level of emergency,” he said.
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Israeli evacuation orders in connection with military operations in Rafah have already led to the displacement of at least 110 thousand people. Due to the closure of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, there is no longer access to replenishment of fuel supplies needed for humanitarian operations.
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“If fuel supplies are not resumed immediately, humanitarian, communication and banking activities will cease within a few days,” stated Petropoulos. “The lack of fuel will affect all vital sectors.”
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Telecom service providers estimate that the remaining fuel will be enough to operate for one day, after which there will be a “network outage.” In the next 24 hours, 5 hospitals run by the Gaza authorities, 17 primary health care centers of UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and other partners, 5 field hospitals and 10 mobile clinics, 28 ambulances will run out of fuel, the OCHA representative noted.
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On May 7, the press service of the Israel Defense Forces reported that the Israeli military had taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt. In addition, the press service informed about the start of a targeted counter-terrorism operation in the eastern part of Rafah, as well as the launch of strikes against Hamas military targets in the area and the liquidation of 20 armed radicals.
