Aid agencies said that they have stopped sending supplies to the Gaza Strip due to fuel shortages and a communications blackout that has hampered coordination.
On Friday, the United Nations was forced to freeze its deliveries of food and other necessities to the people of Gaza. The global agency warned of the growing risk of widespread starvation after internet and telephone services in the besieged region collapsed due to a lack of fuel.
Frozen Gaza Aid
In a statement, Israeli officials announced that they would allow two tanker trucks of fuel into Gaza each day for the UN and communication systems. However, that amount is only half of what the UN said it would need for lifesaving functions for hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza. This includes powering water systems, hospitals, bakeries, and aid trucks.
Israel has restricted entry of fuel into the region since the start of its war with the Hamas militant group. It said that the deliveries would be diverted by Hamas and would be used for military means against its own forces, as per the Associated Press.
However, the Middle Eastern nation has also blocked food, water, and other supplies with the exception of a trickle of aid coming from Egypt that aid workers said falls far short of what was actually needed by people in the embattled region.
The recent communication blackout largely cut off Gaza's roughly 2.3 million people from one another as well as from the outside world. Spokesperson Juliette Touma said that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), was unable to bring in its aid convoy on Friday because of the blackout.
Touma said that an extended communications blackout will result in an extended suspension of humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip. On Friday night, phone and internet services in parts of the region were partially restored after a limited quantity of fuel for generators was provided.
Israeli military forces have signaled that they could expand their offensive toward the southern parts of Gaza while still moving forward with operations in the north. Troops have been actively searching the territory's largest hospital, Shifa, for any traces of a Hamas command center that officials claim was located under the building, according to Yahoo News.
Fuel Shortage and Communications Blackout
They also said on Friday that they found the body of a second hostage taken by the Hamas militant group, Cpl. Noa Marciano. The victim was reportedly found in a building adjacent to Shifa, similar to the first one that was found on Thursday, Yehudit Weiss.
The Israel-Hamas conflict is now in its sixth week after the militant group suddenly attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Since then, more than 11,400 Palestinians have died, two-thirds of which are women and minors, amid Israel's retaliatory strikes on Gaza.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said that nearly the entire population in the Gaza Strip was in desperate need of food assistance. She added that supplies of food and water were practically non-existent in the region and that only a fraction of what was needed actually arrived through the borders, said Aljazeera.
