The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned on Tuesday that the lack of fuel in Gaza had caused important water desalination plants to stop working, and the UN agency called on the Israeli authorities to provide immediate access to water.
The UN agency said in a tweet on the
The Gaza Strip municipalities did not issue an immediate comment on the locations of the desalination plants that stopped working, but since the beginning of the war these plants have witnessed repeated shutdowns due to running out of fuel.
During the past months, a number of desalination plants returned to work after international bodies provided them with limited quantities of fuel as part of humanitarian aid.
On May 7, the Israeli army took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which was considered the main corridor for the entry of humanitarian aid and the travel of the sick and wounded. Egypt reiterated its refusal to coordinate with Tel Aviv regarding the Rafah crossing, as it did not legitimize its occupation.
On Sunday evening, Cairo announced the end of the Egyptian-American-Israeli meeting hosted by Egypt regarding the crossing, amid its adherence to the withdrawal of the occupation forces, according to what a high-level source said to the private Cairo News Channel, and was reported by the Egyptian News Agency.
On May 24, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and American President Joe Biden agreed to send humanitarian aid and fuel temporarily from the Kerem Shalom crossing, until a mechanism is reached to reopen the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency.
With the mediation of Egypt and Qatar and the participation of the United States, Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) have been conducting faltering indirect negotiations for months, while the Israeli war on Gaza has continued since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli war on Gaza left more than 119,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues this war, ignoring a Security Council resolution demanding that it stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the Court of Justice demanding that it stop its attack on Rafah, take immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide, and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
