UN says its access to Gaza鈥檚 Rafah crossing 鈥榙enied鈥� by Israel

A sign welcomes those arriving to Gaza, before it is demolished by an Israeli military vehicle, as Israel claims control over the Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip during its conflict with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. (Reuters)
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  • UN says only has one day of fuel reserves in Gaza

GENEVA: Israeli authorities have denied the UN access to the closed Rafah crossing, the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the United nations said Tuesday .
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN鈥檚 humanitarian agency OCHA, said there was only a one-day buffer of fuel to run humanitarian operations inside the besieged Palestinian territory.
鈥淲e currently do not have any physical presence at the Rafah crossing as our access... has been denied by COGAT,鈥� he said, referring to the Israeli agency that oversees supplies into the Palestinian territories.
鈥淲e have been told there will be no crossings of personnel or goods in or out for the time being. That has a massive impact on how much stock do we have.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a very, very short buffer of one day of fuel available.
鈥淎s fuel only comes in through Rafah, the one day buffer is for the entire operation in Gaza.鈥�
If no fuel comes in, 鈥渋t would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave,鈥� said Laerke.
鈥淐urrently, the two main arteries for getting aid into Gaza are currently choked off,鈥� he said, referring to the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.