fuel shortage could halt Gaza aid operations by Thursday: UN

Tel Aviv [Israel], October 26: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday that its aid operations in the besieged Gaza Strip were hours away from coming "to a stop" unless Israel lifts its blockade on fuel supplies.
The warning came as another convoy of trucks carrying badly needed supplies like medicine, baby formula and water passed through the Rafah crossing from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
Since Saturday, a total of 62 trucks have made it into the Palestinian territory - an amount that relief groups describe as a drop in an ocean of needs. Only eight made the crossing by Wednesday afternoon, despite the hope that 20 would get in.
Israel has imposed a "complete siege" on Gaza since the October 7 surprise attack by Hamas group that left 1,400 people dead, most of them civilians. Some 220 others were abducted and are being held hostage in Gaza.
Apart from the trickle of aid that entered Gaza in recent days, the densely populated Mediterranean coastal strip of more than 2 million people has been largely cut off from food and essential supplies.
Israel refuses to allow fuel in, saying Hamas would divert it for use in their military operations. Israel also says there are large storage tanks of fuel that Hamas are hoarding for themselves as they await a ground invasion.
With the war in its 19th day, Israel kept up it air attacks on Hamas positions in Gaza, and Hamas continued to fire rockets across the border.
Hamas fighters said two long-range rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Haifa in the north and Eilat in the south of Israel.
The Israeli army said that one projectile was intercepted and the other fell in an open area. There were no reports of damage or injuries.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its latest targets in Gaza included tunnels, command centres and weapons depots. It also said that TaysirMubasher, a Hamas commander responsible for attacks on Israelis, waskilled in a strike.
Around 700 Palestinians were killed in Gaza just on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. By Hamas' count, the total number of people killed since Israel began its retaliatory strikes on October 7 stands at more than 6,500 people.
The UN Children's Fund UNICEF said that 2,360 children have died in Israeli attacks.
Hospitals, relief agencies and the United Nations say Gaza's medical system is on the brink of total collapse.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that hospitals in Gaza have already had to close due to a lack of fuel.
As a result, 2,000 cancer patients, 1,000 dialysis patients and 130 premature babies are increasingly at risk, as well as surgical patients and those in intensive care.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said fuel was vital to keep UN aid operations
going.
"That's our main concern right now - that we are going to run out of fuel. We will be making some decisions about what we don't provide fuel to coming Thursday," UNRWA director Thomas White said in an interview with broadcaster CNN.
"Do we provide fuel for desalination plants for drinking water? Can we provide fuel to hospitals? Can we provide the essential fuel that currently producing the bread that is feeding people in Gaza?" "We need to find a solution to the fuel - otherwise our aid operation will come to a stop." In the occupied West Bank, tensions continued to escalate as Israeli troops carried out more missions.
On Wednesday, four people were killed in Jenin, one in Qalqiliya near Nablus and another in the village of Qalandia, according to the Health Ministry in Ramallah.
The ministry said 102 Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with Israeli soldiers and in attacks by Jewish settlers in the territory since October 7.
Source: Qatar Tribune