The UN Agency Calls Gaza Residents Forced To Instigate Food To Survive

Workers prepare ready-to-eat food delivery near Alexandria, Egypt to be sent to Gaza. (Source: WFP/Mira Moussa)

JAKARTA - The UN agency has again urged a equally important supply of fuel, food and water for Gaza's population, although two aid convoys arrived in the area at the weekend, amid a total siege and Israeli attacks on the region following the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas two weeks ago.

"Without fuel, it is impossible to travel around Gaza or to start a water desalination plant to get clean drinking water or to start hospitals and rescue machines," UN Agency Communications Director (UNRWA) Tamara Alfai told CNN Monday, as quoted October 23.

Alfai further said that humanitarian assistance entering Gaza was only a small part of what more than 400,000 refugees needed in UNRWA-run schools.

"The situation is very, very terrible," he said.

"People in Gaza are forced to ration food, even calculating the minimum calorie requirement per person per day of survival," he said.

"We really rely on continuous and unobstructed truck access from Rafah to Gaza," he said.

Israel previously said it would not allow fuel to enter Gaza. The Israeli military (IDF) last October 14 said to CNN, "when aid enters Gaza, water pipes are converted into rockets, cement intended for buildings converted into tunnels, food for orphans and people in need are given to Hamas militants, fuel for hospitals being taken to Hamas bunkers."

Previously, UNRWA had warned that their fuel would run out within three days, while the impact would severely hit Gaza because it affected children to hospitals.

"Without fuel, there will be no water, no hospitals and bakeries will work. Without fuel, aid will not reach those in dire need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance," said UNRWA General Philippe Lazzarini, quoted from the agency's website.

It is known that two convoys of humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza via Rafah, Egypt on the weekend. The first convoy consists of 20 humanitarian aid trucks, arriving on Saturday. A day later, 14 trucks also arrived in Gaza via Rafah late at night local time.