UNICEF Sounds Alarm on Gaza: Fuel No Longer Flows

UN children’s agency UNICEF is sounding another alarm over the dramatic situation in Gaza. In particular, intensified hostilities in the Rafah area and the closure of border crossings have blocked access to fuel.

“We need fuel to transport life-saving supplies – medications, malnutrition remedies, tents, and water systems – and staff to get to children and families in need,” explains Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Director. But without it, even the few infrastructures in Gaza that are still functioning, such as hospitals, primary health care centers, desalination plants, wells, and wastewater pumps, risk shutting down.

“The situation is dire,” Russell explains. “If the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings are not reopened for fuel and humanitarian supplies, the effects will be felt almost immediately: life support services for premature newborns will lose power, children and families will become dehydrated or consume unsafe water, sewage systems will overflow and spread disease further. Simply put, lost time will soon turn into lost lives.” Moving people into unsafe neighborhoods also raises concern. It is reported that 80,000 people have fled Rafah, with many taking refuge on Al Mawasi, a beach that lacks basic infrastructure (running water and toilets), and others in the ruins of Khan Younis.

Finally, a sad moment in the situation of minors in Gaza: since the war began, more than 14,000 have been killed, thousands injured, and UNICEF estimates the number of unaccompanied or separated children at 17,000. Many are seriously injured, exhausted, sick, malnourished, and traumatized.