The Gaza Strip could have a fuel entry mechanism starting this Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.
The announcement coincided with the news spread by Egyptian media that 150,000 liters of fuel entered this Friday through the Rafah crossing, which connects the Palestinian territory with Egypt.
The WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Peeperkorn, told reporters in Geneva via video conference that this mechanism “must be continuous.”
It will allow “to guarantee the humanitarian operation, that the desalination, bakery and telecommunications facilities work again,” he stated, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
Fuel ran out this week, causing the vast majority of hospitals, telephone and internet services, and desalination plants that convert seawater into drinking water to stop working.
The UN said that as a result, more than 70% of the population does not have access to this vital supply.
Peeperkorn would not say anything about the regularity of the supply or whether Israel will impose conditions on the use of the fuel.
In the middle of the week, Israel authorized the entry of 23 thousand liters, which should only be used to transport aid.
This fuel, according to Israeli orders, could not be used by hospitals or other vital services.
Since October 11, four days after Hamas’s attack on Israel, Gaza has been in a situation of total power blackout.
The Israeli authorities cut off the supply of electricity from Israel and subsequently the only electricity production plant in the Palestinian territory ran out of fuel reserves.
Gradually, all basic services – including hospitals and bakeries, among others – were running out of the fuel that each one had in reserve and with which they operated the electric generators until this week.
The military offensive in the Gaza Strip was launched after the Palestinian extremist group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, causing 1,200 deaths, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, Israeli bombings and ground operations have caused more than 11,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip, according to Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.
Source: TSF
