UN says fuel shortages will halt Gaza aid operations within a day

The main United Nations agency in Gaza says it will have to halt aid operations within a day if fuel is not delivered, in what the organization says would mark the end of a "lifeline" for civilians.

While some aid has reached Gaza through Egypt, those deliveries included food, water and medicine - but not fuel. Israel has refused to allow fuel to enter Gaza since Hamas' brutal October 7 attack, saying it would only be used by the militant group to fuel its fight against Israel.

Asked how long the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) could last without fuel, spokesperson Tamara Alrifai told CNN: "We're probably talking a day. We have already warned that if fuel runs out by tonight or tomorrow, we as UNWRA, the largest UN agency in Gaza, will no longer be able to work." The organization initially said it would have to halt operations Wednesday evening.

UN officials warned the current supplies were "a drop in the ocean" for the needs of 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza and will be of little use without the fuel needed to collect and distribute the aid.

"Without fuel, aid cannot be delivered, hospitals will not have power, and drinking water cannot be purified or even pumped," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council Tuesday.

Doctors in overwhelmed hospitals on the brink of shutting down have repeatedly warned that waves of new patients injured in the daily bombings and babies relying on oxygen supplies will die if fuel is not brought in.

The warnings from senior UN officials came after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed more than 700 people in 24 hours, the highest daily number published since Israeli strikes against what it called Hamas targets in Gaza began two and a half weeks ago, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Tuesday.