Gaza: Closure of Rafah Crossing Severely Restricts Humanitarian Operations | UN Press Conference

Senior humanitarian official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Andrea De Domenico, told reporters that humanitarian operation cannot run without fuel, adding that the lack of fuel will affect life critical sector across the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to reporters today (07 May) via video link, Andrea De Domenico, Head of OCHA's Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said, “The closure of Rafah crossing has a severe impact on access to fuel for humanitarian activities, the entry of critical humanitarian items and curtail the movement of staff.”

He continued, “Protection of civilian for us remain essential, of course, as it is humanitarian asset and supplies. And we are seeking assurances from all parties to the conflict that they should help us to protect those and ensure respect of civilians.”

The UN humanitarian official reiterated, “We continue to advocate for concrete assurances and actionable measures to facilitate the safe and secure movement of humanitarian cargoes by all routes into and within the Gaza Strip.”

De Domenico also said, “The stocks at Rafah crossing fuel station and in Khan Younis are currently not accessible due to the security situation prevailing on the ground.”

He added, “Communication companies are unable to receive the daily quantities of fuel required to sustain the network. And this means that as of a couple of days, people will not have access to information, we will not be able to gather information for people to understand their needs. And families will not be able to connect to during displacement if they get separated.”

The OCHA official also said, “The site to which people are displacing are without nutrient, without water points, without drainage, without shelter, and it is impossible to improve the situation in existing in the new displacement sites without the entry of supplies and without the fuel to transport them to the location where the people are concentrating.”

On food security, De Domenico said, “Most of the food dispatch and distribution in the South have been suspended since yesterday. As part of where warehouses are in the part of Rafah that has been affected by hostilities. It is estimated that most of the partners will run out of food stock to support people in the south of Wadi Gaza by the end of the week.”

He added, “Partners are running out of fuel to dispatch, their remaining commodities for distribution to household and supporting the bakeries. Without additional fuel, all the food assistance that will be impacted and including the 16 bakeries supported by World Food Programs and humanitarian partners. They will be forced to suspend their operations.”

The OCHA official also said, “In terms of WASH, I think that we have faced that chronically poor access to water and sanitation services that have contributed to presence of disease and increasing malnutrition. Without fuel tomorrow, the main water production will be shut down in the north, depriving the entire population of access to drinking water.”

On solid waste collection, De Domenico said, “We estimated that will be up to 1,400 gallons of waste per day that will accumulate in the streets all over. And this was already a big challenge because also we do not have access yet to the landfill where we could deliver and drop all the all the garbage.”