Gaza hospitals running out of fuel due to Rafah invasion: UN agencies

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: UN agencies + Gaza Media Office
10 May 2024 17:00
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UN agencies are warning against the prevention of aid supplies into the Gaza Strip, which threatens and imminent humanitarian catastrophe.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine, May 6, 2024 (AP)

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital's administration, a hospital located in the central Gaza Strip, announced that its facilities will run out of fuel in the coming 48 hours, forcing it to put its services on hold.

The announcement comes amid an Israeli invasion of the southernmost city of the besieged territory, Rafah, where occupation forces took control of the Rafah border crossing, through which most of the aid and supplies meant for the Palestinian people pass.

Gaza's Government Media Office said that the fuel shortage, experienced by the hospital, will spur an imminent "humanitarian crisis."

The office urged immediate intervention to supply all of Gaza's medical facilities with energy supplies and to rehabilitate destroyed and damaged facilities.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the closure of the Rafah border crossing, which is the only available land pathway into the besieged Gaza Strip via Egypt, will affect fuel and aid supplied, as well as the movement of civilians.

OCHA said in a statement that the Strip's hospitals will be out of service if energy supplies are not delivered to them within the next 24 hours. The organization has also stated that all crossings into the southern Gaza Strip remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations, and the movement of humanitarian staff.

On its part, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned against the detrimental developments affecting field supplies and food stocks in the southern Gaza Strip, stressing the necessity to prevent child deaths in the territory. UNICEF said that the fuel shortage might also hinder humanitarian work in the area.

Adding the international calls warning against the prevention of aid deliveries, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the actions taking place in the Gaza Strip cross "all red lines."

The UN agency also pointed to the Israeli occupation forces' bombardment of Rafah, which resulted in the forced displacement of 110,000 people from the city. UNRWA called for an immediate ceasefire, in order to prevent yet another humanitarian catastrophe.

The organization also explained that military operations in Rafah have forced 10 out of 34 UNRWA medical points in the city to close and three operational health centers in the area reduced the working capacity.