AMMAN, Monday, October 23, 2023 (WAFA) - Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned that without fuel entering the besieged Gaza Strip, the humanitarian response will stop.
“In three days, UNRWA will run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement.
“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance. No fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza,” said the UNRWA Commissioner-General.
“UNRWA is the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip. Without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen. I call on all parties and those with influence over them to immediately allow fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip and to ensure that fuel is strictly used to prevent a collapse of the humanitarian response. UNRWA is currently hosting more than half a million people out of nearly 1 million displaced across the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Lazzarini welcomed the entry of aid convoys into Gaza, stressing however that they are far from enough. “To be meaningful, Gaza needs an uninterrupted and scaled up humanitarian supply line,” he said.
The first convoy of 20 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies but no fuel entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on October 21 and on 22 October, the Rafah crossing with Egypt reopened for the second consecutive day allowing the entry of an additional 14 trucks also carrying food, water and medical supplies, but no fuel. This is equivalent to about three percent of the daily average volume of commodities entering Gaza prior to the hostilities.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said it was “another small glimmer of hope for the millions of people in dire need of humanitarian aid. But they need more, much more."
M.K.
