UN Agency Paralyzed due to Fuel Shortage in Gaza, Israel Accuses Hamas of Hoarding and Theft

Illustration of fuel trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip. (Twitter/@ShehabAgency)

JAKARTA - The UN aid agency for Palestine said on Thursday that its operations were paralyzed due to a lack of fuel, but Israel said supplies were available but controlled by Hamas.

UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Communications Director Juliette Touma said the agency would be forced to halt operations altogether if fuel, which is essential for generating electricity for hospitals, could not be delivered by Thursday.

"UNRWA continues to struggle with very limited and dwindling fuel supplies. Rationing of deliveries continues, including to medical facilities and bakeries. UNRWA is crippled by the lack of fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip," Touma said in a statement to CNN, as quoted October 27.

The UN agency warned a day earlier that it would run out of fuel by the end of Wednesday.

On the other hand, Israel says supplies still exist. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the problem was not a lack of fuel in Gaza, but that the problem lay in the hands of Hamas.

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN on Thursday that there were "between 800,000 and possibly more than a million liters of fuel of various types stored inside Gaza" under Hamas control, according to Israeli military intelligence estimates.

"Some was stockpiled beforehand, some was stolen from the UN, some was stolen by Hamas from private vendors," he said, while CNN could not independently verify the amount of fuel in Gaza.

Regarding this, another UNRWA spokesperson, Tamara Alrifai, said that as a humanitarian agency, they should not beg for fuel.

"Whether there are other fuel sources in Gaza or not has nothing to do directly with us, we are a human institution and we cannot ask for fuel to meet operational needs," he explained.

With fuel supplies rapidly running out, UNRWA has been forced to take the difficult decision of switching electricity between bakeries and hospital wards, with more than 600,000 people now displaced, dependent on a daily slice of bread, Alrifai added.