Telecom service resumes in Gaza but may go down again due to fuel shortage: UN

United News of India

3 hours ago

Gaza City, June 24 (UNI) Vital telecommunications in Gaza -- out for days -- have been repaired, but may go down again because of fuel shortages, UN humanitarians warned on Monday.
"Over the weekend, telecommunications were restored across Gaza after damaged fiber cables were repaired," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
"Humanitarian teams have had more than 24 hours of relatively stable connectivity, something that is essential to coordinate emergency relief and save lives."
OCHA said that without urgent fuel deliveries, telecommunications will go down again very soon. Fuel is also needed to keep emergency rooms running, power ambulances and operate water desalination and pumping stations.
The office said that humanitarian teams are rationing what little fuel remains and working to retrieve stocks stored inside Gaza in areas that are difficult to access. One of the teams was able to access fuel stored in Rafah. If the mission can retrieve the fuel, it would buy critical services a bit more time, although not much.
OCHA said Israeli authorities need to facilitate movements of fuel in sufficient quantities into and throughout Gaza, especially to and within the north, where fuel movements have often been denied.
The office pointed out that most of Gaza is in areas where humanitarian teams are required to coordinate every movement with the Israeli authorities. Over the weekend, the United Nations and its partners attempted to coordinate 16 humanitarian movements. Half of them were denied outright, hindering the trucking of water and fuel, the provision of nutrition services and the retrieval of bodies.
However, OCHA said that some efforts to remove solid waste and the movement of staff within Gaza were allowed. The delivery of supplies was not permitted.
The office said Israeli authorities issued another evacuation order for two Khan Younis city neighborhoods. The neighborhoods were already subject to earlier displacement orders and included two hospitals.
OCHA said that while the authorities made it clear that hospitals were not required to evacuate, the designation of the displacement area hinders access to the facilities for both patients and medical staff. Access to the Nasser Medical Complex has been challenging due to a lack of fuel for transportation, and health workers and patients fear for their safety.
The humanitarians said that in Khan Younis, in-patient admissions at field hospitals increased threefold last week, mainly due to access challenges at Nasser, which also saw an influx of trauma patients and has been overwhelmed since.
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