CAIRO, October 30. /TASS/. Humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is meeting only three percent of the needs of the population, with water, food, medicine, ambulances and fuel being in severe shortage, Nibal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said on Monday.

"The situation is unstable. Humanitarian assistance is too scarce and meets only some three percent of people’s needs [in the Gaza Strip] in terms of water, food and medicines," she said in an interview with the Al Arabiya television channel.

According to Farsakh, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has only 26 operable ambulances. Three of them were damaged during bombardments and three more cannot be used because of the shortage of fuel. Moreover, in her words, twelve out of 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are not operating, also due to either damage from shelling attacks or the lack of fuel.

"International involvement is badly needed to ensure humanitarian aid deliveries, including fuel, to the Gaza Strip," she noted.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Daniel Hagari said earlier that his country’s ground troops were expanding operations in the Gaza Strip.