UN warns of humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if funding is not urgently received for emergency fuel in the Gaza Strip, a UN spokesman said.

Emergency fuel for critical facilities in Gaza will become exhausted within the next 10 days, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq quoted the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Roberto Valent, as saying.

There is an urgent need for donor support to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe driven by the energy crisis, Haq said at a daily briefing.

At present, the nearly 2 million Palestinian residents of Gaza, over half of whom are children, receive electricity for no more than eight hours each day, Haq added.

This year, 6.5 million U.S. dollars are required to provide 7.7 million liters of emergency fuel. This is the bare minimum needed to stave off a collapse of services, Haq noted.

Valent was cited as saying that hospitals have already begun to close. Without funding, more service providers will be forced to suspend operations over the coming weeks, and the situation will deteriorate dramatically, with potential impacts on the entire population. Enditem