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UN fuel reserves in Gaza Strip to run out in matter of days — UN secretary general

Antonio Guterres called to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza population, which requires "continuous aid delivery at a level that corresponds to the enormous needs"

UNITED NATIONS, October 24. /TASS/. UN fuel reserves in the Gaza Strip will run out in a matter of days and it will become a disaster, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.

"Our UN fuel supplies in Gaza will run out in a matter of days. That would be another disaster," the Secretary General said. "Without fuel, aid cannot be delivered, hospitals will not have power, and drinking water cannot be purified or even pumped," he said during an open debate in the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

"Thankfully, some humanitarian relief is finally getting into Gaza. But it is a drop of aid in an ocean of need," the Secretary General added.

He called to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza population, which requires "continuous aid delivery at a level that corresponds to the enormous needs."

Previously, the Ministry of Health of Palestine announced that many medical facilities in the enclave are effectively destroyed and operate at over 150% of their capabilities. According to the Ministry, 10 out of 35 Gaza hospitals are currently not operational.

Speaking in an interview for the CNN the Israeli Prime Minister’s senior advisor Mark Regev said that Israeli would not allow deliveries of fuel to the Gaza Strip. According to the official, the issue of fuel deliveries is off the table, because Israel has no doubts that this fuel will be "stolen by Hamas and used to launch rockets at Israel." Regev pointed out that this has already happened before, when the bulk of the fuel delivered to the Gaza Strip was "stolen at gunpoint."

The situation in the Middle East has escalated abruptly after an armed infiltration of HAMAS militant from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The HAMAS movement considers this attack a response to the actions of Israeli authorities towards the Al Aqsa Mosque at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Israel announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip and started carrying out strikes at the enclave and at certain areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes also take place in the West Bank.