UNRWA calls for "a solution" to fuel shortages and says it will be forced to suspend operations

The agency warns that it would have to stop its activities today if it does not receive supplies to maintain its services

MADRID, 25 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) has called for "a solution" to the fuel shortage in the Gaza Strip and has reiterated that it will have to suspend operations from Wednesday night if it does not receive supplies. to maintain their services.

The organization's Director of Affairs in Gaza, Thomas White, has indicated in statements given to the American television network CNN that UNRWA "asks for a solution to the fuel" and has warned that, if there is not one, "the "People will not have access to drinking water and hospitals will close."

"My concern right now is that we are going to keep their fuel and we have to make decisions about what we do not give fuel to starting Thursday," he said, before stressing that "even if convoys enter Gaza, there will be no fuel in trucks to collect and distribute that aid.

Thus, White has detailed that the organization will have to begin to consider whether "to provide fuel to the desalination plant for drinking water", to the hospitals or to the factories that are manufacturing "the bread that feeds the people in Gaza."

UNRWA spokesperson Tamara al Rifai told BBC television on Tuesday that if the agency does not obtain fuel in the next few hours it would have to stop operations on Wednesday night.

For his part, Avichai Adrei, one of the spokespersons for the Israeli Army, said that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) "continues to say that it cannot supply fuel to hospitals, bakeries and civilians," while "stealing fuel from civilians." and transfers it to tunnels, shuttles and high officials", while publishing an aerial photograph of fuel tanks in the Strip.

Subsequently, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published a message on X citing the UNRWA message in which it warned that it could run out of fuel this Wednesday, attaching said aerial image. "These fuel tanks are inside Gaza. They contain more than 500,000 liters of fuel. Ask Hamas if they give you anything," he stressed.

In another vein, UNRWA has also indicated in a message on its account on the social network

"Our shelters are four times over their capacity. Many people are sleeping on the street, since the facilities are overwhelmed," he indicated, while denouncing that "at least 40 UNRWA facilities" have been hit during hostilities.

The authorities of the Strip, controlled by Hamas, have so far confirmed the death of nearly 5,800 Palestinians due to Israeli bombings against Gaza following the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas, which left nearly 1,400 dead. In addition, the Palestinian Authority has reported more than a hundred deaths in the West Bank.