Gaza ambulance fleet down to a third, Palestinian Red Crescent says

The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent says its operations in Gaza may stop within days in the absence of fresh supplies, and its ambulance fleet was running at only a third of capacity due to fuel shortages.

Flour and other aid began reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas on Thursday after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week Israeli blockade, Palestinian officials say.

Israel says it let in 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the blockade under mounting international pressure amid warnings of starvation in Gaza.

Asked how long his organization could continue operating in Gaza, Palestine Red Crescent Society President Younis Al-Khatib tells reporters in Geneva: “It’s a matter of time. It could be days.

“We are running out of fuel. The capacity of ambulances we work with now is one third,” he adds, saying its gasoline-powered ambulances had already halted, but it had some that were running on solar power provided by the United Nations.

Al-Khatib criticizes the small amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza so far, warning of the risk of mob attacks.

“I think that is an invitation for killing. These people are starving,” he says.

He adds his voice to criticism of a US-backed organization that aims to start work in Gaza by the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution. “It’s not up for discussion. No, no, no,” he says.

“The world should not give up on the system as we know it.”

The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation intends to work with private US security and logistics firms to provide aid to 300,000 people from distribution hubs in Gaza’s south.