Due to fuel shortages, UN agency cannot deliver aid to Gaza on Tuesday

UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, announced on Tuesday that it will not be able to assist humanitarian supplies through the Rafah crossing because it does not have enough gasoline to refuel its trucks in Gaza.

During a news conference on Monday, Thomas White, the director of UNRWA Affairs in the Gaza Strip, stated that the organization has about 80 trucks in its fleet that are used to deliver aid across the Rafah crossing that links Gaza and Egypt.

White said at the briefing on Monday that the agency has been using fuel from a strategic reservoir inside Gaza for the last two and a half weeks after arranging access with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to White, that reservoir, which has a one million liter capacity and gets fuel via a pipeline to Egypt, is now totally empty.

The "highest level of the Israeli government" is currently "stalled" in negotiations to replenish the reservoir, he continued.

According to him, the agency will have to completely stop providing various services, such as waste removal and desalination facilities. White cautioned that there is a "real potential" that unchecked trash flow in the streets may cause a "devastating" cholera outbreak in Gaza.