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Israel denies UN access to Gaza's Rafah crossing —OCHA

OCHA spokesman says that two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are choked off, referring to the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.

Reuters

OCHA spokesman says If no fuel comes in, it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave/ Photo: Reuters archive

Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the closed Rafah crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Gaza, the United Nations said.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, said on Tuesday there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside the besieged Palestinian territory.

"We currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access has been denied by COGAT," he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.

"We have been told there will be no crossings of personnel or goods in or out for the time being. That has a massive impact on how much stock we have.

Continued interruption of the entry of aid and fuel supplies at the #Rafah crossing will halt the critical humanitarian response across the #GazaStrip

The catastrophic hunger faced by people especially in northern #Gaza will get much worse if these supply routes are interrupted. pic.twitter.com/CYMxbbHMbL
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 7, 2024

Fuel shortage

"There's a very, very short buffer of one day of fuel available.

"As fuel only comes in through Rafah, the one-day buffer is for the entire operation in Gaza."

If no fuel comes in, "it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave", said Laerke.

"Currently, the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are choked off," he said, referring to the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.