Latest news with #fuelcrisis
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gaza authorities suspend key services due to Israeli fuel blockade
A fuel crisis in Gaza, caused by an Israeli blockade, has forced several municipalities to suspend key services, such as waste collection and sewage treatment, threatening to exacerbate disease and suffering in the war-torn territory. In a joint statement, the affected municipalities in central and southern Gaza said they have had to halt these services because of Israeli restrictions on the import of petrol and diesel into the coastal strip. The statement, which was signed by the municipal authorities of Khan Younis and Rafah, among others, also said that equipment for clearing rubble could not be used due to fuel shortages, and that wells had been closed. The authorities said their attempts to secure fuel through international organizations had proven unsuccessful. Much of Gaza lies in ruins after over 21 months of Israeli attacks, with many Palestinians living in severely overcrowded conditions. A group of seven UN organizations providing humanitarian aid in Gaza warned on Saturday of the catastrophic consequences of the impending fuel shortage. "Without adequate fuel, Gaza faces a collapse of humanitarian efforts," said a statement issued by the organizations, which include the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the World Health Organization. In hospitals, the lights are already going out, maternity and intensive care units are failing and ambulances are no longer able to respond to calls, the organizations said. They stressed that bakeries and community kitchens, which feed the sealed-off territory's starving population, also depend on fuel to operate, as do water treatment and sewage plants. "These conditions expose families to deadly disease outbreaks and push Gaza's most vulnerable even closer to death," the statement said. Israel has been waging a relentless war in Gaza against Hamas since the Palestinian Islamist group and its allies launched unprecedented attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel controls all access to the Gaza Strip and has severely restricted the entry of humanitarian supplies, including fuel. Israeli officials have repeatedly claimed that the minimum amounts of fuel required are reaching Gaza.
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
‘Famine is spreading and people are dying': UN urges Israel to allow fuel into Gaza
The United Nations humanitarian agency, Ocha, has warned that Israel's blockade has caused a fuel crisis in Gaza that could increase suffering and fatalities among the strip's 2.3 million Palestinians. Fuel for water desalination plants, hospitals, intensive care units and vital vehicles is being consumed rapidly and there are 'virtually no additional stocks left', Ocha said. 'Hospitals are rationing. Ambulances are stalling. Water systems are on the brink. The deaths this is likely causing could soon increase sharply unless the Israeli authorities allow new fuel in urgently, regularly and in sufficient quantities,' said the agency in a statement. Director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital Mohammed Abu Salmiya told Al-Jazeera: 'Blood banks, nurseries and oxygen stations are not operating because of a lack of fuel.' READ MORE World Food Programme chief operating officer Carl Skau said in a social media post: 'The needs are greater than ever, and our capacity to respond has never been more constrained. Famine is spreading, and people are dying trying to find food.' He said: 'Our teams in Gaza are doing their best to deliver aid and are often caught in the crossfire. We are suffering from shortages of fuel, spare parts and essential communications equipment.' Gaza's health ministry also warned of a worsening situation. 'The catastrophic conditions in shelters, the severe shortage of drinking water, the spread of sewage, and the accumulation of waste are driving the health situation to further deterioration,' the ministry said. [ US-backed aid group proposed building camps for displaced people in Gaza Opens in new window ] On Sunday UN under-secretary general Jorge Moreira da Silva warned that teams on the ground had recovered 'the last remaining 150,000 litres of diesel from our storage tanks inside Gaza. This is less than what the [overall] humanitarian operation requires in a single day'. He said the shortage is forcing the UN to make 'impossible choices' on which operations to prioritise. On June 5th it provided fuel desalination rather than sewage pumps knowing that 'sewage will flood the streets again in some areas'. No fuel has entered Gaza since March 2nd, when Israel halted all humanitarian aid supplies to the Strip. Since the end of May Israel has charged the controversial US and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) with providing limited food at four hubs. On Saturday Gaza's health ministry said 743 Palestinians had been killed and 4,891 injured while trying to get food at the sites. [ Why is the United Nations not doing more to stop the starvation in Gaza? Opens in new window ] Before the US government donated $30 million to GHF, the US Agency for International Development (USAid) warned of 'critical concerns' about GHF's operations. Israel's insistence that GHF should remain the main supplier of aid to Gaza has been rejected by Hamas in negotiations. The UN has called for humanitarian aid agencies to resume deliveries at the 400 sites that were used before Israel's blockade. The war began on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. Israel's subsequent campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than two million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis in the enclave and left much of the territory in ruins. – Additional reporting: Reuters
Washington Post
09-07-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Gaza humanitarian work at risk of shutdown, U.N. warns amid fuel blockade
BEIRUT — Fuel stocks in Gaza have almost run out in the four months since Israel last allowed any fuel to enter the enclave, leaving the entire humanitarian response at risk of imminent shutdown, United Nations officials said this week. Gaza hospitals warned Wednesday that they are once again on the brink of stopping services.
Al Jazeera
09-07-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
‘Critical point': UN pleads for fuel for Gaza amid Israeli blockade
The United Nations humanitarian office, OCHA, has warned that the fuel crisis in Gaza due to the Israeli blockade has reached a 'critical point' and will cause further deaths and suffering in the besieged Palestinian territory. OCHA said the fuel powering vital functions in Gaza, including water desalination stations and hospitals' intensive care units, is running out quickly, with 'virtually no additional accessible stocks left'. 'Hospitals are rationing. Ambulances are stalling. Water systems are on the brink,' the office said in a statement. 'The deaths this is likely causing could soon increase sharply unless the Israeli authorities allow new fuel in – urgently, regularly and in sufficient quantities.' Israel has imposed a suffocating siege on Gaza since early March. Over the past weeks, it has allowed some food into Gaza to be distributed through a United States-backed group at sites where hundreds of aid seekers have been shot dead by Israeli fire. But fuel has not entered the territory in months. Senior World Food Programme official Carl Skau also decried the lack of fuel in Gaza. 'The needs are greater than ever, and our capacity to respond has never been more constrained. Famine is spreading, and people are dying trying to find food,' Skau said in a social media post. 'Our teams in Gaza are doing their best to deliver aid and are often caught in the crossfire. We are suffering from shortages of fuel, spare parts and essential communications equipment.' The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, said that the situation at the medical centre is alarming due to the lack of fuel supplies. 'We don't have enough fuel left until morning. If fuel is not available, generators cannot run, and hospitals find it difficult to provide care,' Abu Salmiya told Al Jazeera. 'Blood banks, nurseries and oxygen stations are not operating because of a lack of fuel. Patients will be doomed to certain death if fuel is not provided to hospitals.' The health sector in Gaza has already been pushed to the brink under Israeli bombardment and repeated displacement orders. Aid workers and health experts have been reporting a rise in preventable diseases in the territory amid the dire humanitarian situation. On Tuesday, Gaza's Ministry of Health said the enclave is seeing an uptick in cases of meningitis, a potentially deadly disease, especially among children. 'The catastrophic conditions in shelters, the severe shortage of drinking water, the spread of sewage, and the accumulation of waste are driving the health situation to further deterioration,' the ministry said. Meningitis, which causes inflammation around the brain and spinal cord, can be caused by a bacterial infection. In addition to the humanitarian crisis, Israel is pressing on with its intense bombardment of the territory. Medical sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli attacks killed at least 95 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday. Israeli attacks killed dozens of displaced people in and around tents in the al-Mawasi area near Khan Younis and in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp. UN experts and rights groups have described Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza as a genocide.
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Lincolnshire garages run out of petrol after supply issues
The owner of three petrol stations says his garages have run out of a fuel as a result of an oil refinery going into Dant of Gill Marsh Forecourts said all three of his sites at Ulceby Cross, Partney and Bilsby in Lincolnshire ran out of unleaded petrol on Thursday. The government said an agreement had been reached to keep the Lindsey refinery at Immingham operating and resume deliveries despite filing for insolvency on 29 June. The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) acknowledged there may be delays to deliveries and advised motorists to "shop around". The Lindsey Oil Refinery is owned by Prax Group which filed for insolvency on 29 are 420 employees at the refinery, whose jobs are now at risk. According to the government, Lindsey is the smallest of the UK's oil refineries producing fuel. It is next to the Phillips 66 Humber refinery, which is the dominant fuel supplier in the region. In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: "The UK is well supplied with fuel – the site is right next door to one of the biggest and most efficient refineries in the country, and stock levels are normal across the UK."However, Mr Dant said his garages were supplied by Harvest Energy which was also part of the Prax Group."Even if there's product there, we still couldn't get that product," he said. "It's very hard, because there are quite a few of us in the same boat," he added."There's loads of garages around us that are now starting to run out because obviously the remaining refinery, Phillips 66 can't just double their production overnight," he retailer said he expected the supply problems to last at least two weeks, but hoped to have secured some fuel from Liverpool by the end of next week."Obviously there's a great deal of extra cost for us to get that, but at least we'll have some products to sell," he said.A PRA spokesperson: "The PRA is currently in contact with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and also Harvest Energy. "We are aware that Harvest Energy (Prax) have allowed their dealers to source product from alternative suppliers whilst clarity is sought on supply from Lindsey Oil Refinery. "Whilst there may be some delay to deliveries there is no shortage of product and motorists are advised to shop around."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
