GAZA CITY, April 23: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees will have to halt the distribution of food to the Gaza Strip within 24 hours if it does not receive fresh fuel supplies, its Gaza director said on Wednesday.

“UNRWA will run out of diesel tomorrow, forcing it to shut down its food distribution,” the UN Relief and Works Agency’s John Ging told a Gaza City press conference.

“Neither UNRWA nor the World Food Programme, who together feed over one million Gazans, will be able to resume food distribution until they receive diesel for the trucks involved in transporting the food,” he said.

He added that local flour mills will run out of fuel starting on Friday and that farmers and fishermen were already hard-hit by the lack of fuel.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the matter.

Israel halted the supply of petrol and diesel and cut fuel supplies for Gaza’s power plant by half after Palestinian militants attacked the Nahal Oz fuel terminal two weeks ago, killing two Israeli civilian employees.

It resumed shipments of fuel for the plant several days later, but stopped deliveries again last week after another attack killed three Israeli soldiers near the crossing. Israel again resumed shipments of fuel for the plant on Wednesday.

Ging welcomed the ‘reprieve’ but said the power plant ‘has been in a state of perpetual crisis since January and is not getting the quantities that it needs.’ Israel has sealed the impoverished territory off from all but vital humanitarian aid since Hamas movement took power there in June.

“The humanitarian conditions in Gaza are now quite simply appalling. Ten months of crushing sanctions is stripping the civilian population of a dignified existence,” Ging said.

Ging was joined by Robert Serry, the UN’s special envoy to the Middle East peace process, who urged Palestinian militants to halt all attacks on border crossings and called on Israeli to lift its blockade on the territory.

“The recent attacks by Palestinian militants against crossing points into Gaza are deeply disturbing. I appeal to Hamas to immediately end attacks,” he said.

But ‘it is also wrong for Israel to punish a civilian population for such attacks ... The collective punishment of the population of Gaza, which has been instituted for months now, has failed.’ Gaza’s health sector is suffering from the fuel cuts, with 20 per cent of ambulances out of commission and another 60 per cent with less than a week’s worth of fuel, according to UNRWA.—AFP