UNICEF seeks urgent fuel delivery to Gaza amid worsening crisis

0205 GMT — UN says running out of fuel in Gaza as border crossings remain shut

Critical diesel fuel to pump drinking water, maintain communications and deliver aid in Gaza will run out and it’s estimated that food already in the south will be gone by the end of the week, a senior UN humanitarian official has said following Israel’s closure of the two key crossing points into the territory.

Andrea De Domenico, the head of the UN’s humanitarian office in the Palestinian territories, said that Israel’s military offensive and evacuation order in Rafah has resulted in “the forced displacement of tens of thousands of people.”

The area Israel told Palestinians to go is mainly sand dunes and has no latrines, water points, drainage, shelter or health facilities, De Domenico said in a virtual news conference from Jerusalem.

The Israelis are not on the ground providing services and are looking for humanitarian partners, he said.

It is impossible to improve conditions without the arrival of supplies and fuel to transport them to the new locations. Without fuel and more flour, he said, the 16 bakeries supported by the UN World Food Program throughout Gaza will be forced to suspend operations.

If supplemental nutrition supplies can’t be delivered, the treatment of more than 3,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition will be interrupted, he said, and three of the main remaining hospitals “will become inoperable.”