Humanitarian aid deliveries entering Gaza have not included fuel, the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its report of Oct. 22. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), by far the largest humanitarian provider in Gaza, will exhaust its fuel reserves within the next three days. Today UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini called to immediately allow fuel supplies, adding that “no fuel will further strangle the children, women and people of Gaza.”
The fuel shortages have a direct impact on Gaza’s hospitals because without fuel for diesel generators they have no power. According to the OCHA report, all 17 hospitals in the northern part of the Strip that the IDF has ordered evacuated are still in operation because evacuation would endanger vulnerable patients. Al-Shifa hospital is treating 5,000 patients, well beyond its capacity of 700, and 45,000 people are taking shelter in and around the facility. The Al Quds Hospital, also in Gaza City, is accommodating more than 400 patients and about 12,000 IDPs.
