Urgent need for fuel 

Fuel, he explained, remains the most urgently needed supply “for trucks to receive and distribute aid, for bakeries, hospitals, water desalination.”

He explained that UNRWA has rationed to the maximum its use of fuel to enable it to stretch its last remaining supply for another day or two, but warned that it will be forced to make a very tough decision to significantly reduce its operation and, in some places to totally bring them to a halt if fuel is not supplied.

Noting that UNRWA supports 50 bakeries, many of which have been bombed, it is trying in cooperation with WFP to provide bread to the 150 UNRWA shelters where more than 600,000 displaced people have sought refuge, Brusa said that “as we are not able to have fuel in the cars to drive the flour to the bakeries, nor give them fuel, the distribution of bread is also likely to stop.”

The lack of fuel, he underscored, is severely undermining the possibility of providing all humanitarian support.

Appeal for safe humanitarian access

“UNRWA also continues to call for a full lift of the siege and for humanitarian access to be safe, unimpeded, continuous and regular,” Brusa said.

Noting that the number of internally displaced people has now increased dramatically, he said it is four times higher than what UNRWA originally planned as part of its crisis response before the war started.

“The shelters are overcrowded, they lack privacy and sanitation,” he continued saying that for example “in the Rafah logistics base, where more than 8,000 people have sought shelter, 400 people are sharing one toilet.”

Reiterating that hospitals, schools, places of worship, people's homes, shops and sources of livelihood have all come under attack, Brusa said “No place is safe in Gaza.”