The World Health Organisation has warned that Gaza is less than 24 hours away from “real catastrophe” as hospital fuel supplies dwindle and food and water run low or out completely.
Ahmed al-Mandhari, the WHO’s regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza has around “24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left” and that it is barrelling towards “real catastrophe”.
It comes as Egypt’s foreign minister has said Israel is yet to take a stance which allows the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to open, as hopes of a deal to enable aid to be brought into the enclave appeared to falter.
With at least one million people already forced to flee their homes in northern Gaza, international mediators had previously appeared close to striking a deal for Egypt to open the southern border to allow foreign citizens to escape the Israeli bombardment and feared ground offensive.
The US Embassy in Israel has told its citizens in the enclave to “move closer” to the Egyptian border as it may only “open for a limited time” to allow while the situation remains “fluid and unpredictable”, as US president Joe Biden warned Israel that occupying Gaza would be a “big mistake”.