Geneva, Oct. 16, (dpa/GNA) – As hundreds of thousands of people flee to the south of the Gaza Strip to avoid an expected Israeli ground invasion, essential supplies are running out, according to UN workers.
Hospitals in the Palestinian coastal enclave had only 24 hours’ worth of fuel left to run emergency generators, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said late on Sunday. A shutdown of the generators would put thousands of patients at “immediate risk,” the agency warned in its latest situation report.
Following the unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas on border communities in southern Israel, Israel has sealed off Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, cutting electricity, food and water supplies.
The Israeli army on Monday morning again called on civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern part of the coastal strip as signs are growing an Israeli ground invasion is imminent. More than 600,000 people have already left the area.
According to OCHA, people in Gaza currently have an average of only three litres of water per day for drinking, cooking and washing. Israel restored the water supply in part of the town of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the situation report said.
Some 115 tons of UN food aid is on its way from Dubai to Al-Arish, an Egyptian town near the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. However, the nearby border crossing at Rafah remains closed, OCHA said.
GNA