ISTANBUL

No fuel or aid has entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing amid an Israeli offensive in the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday.

"We are not receiving any aid into the Gaza Strip,” Scott Anderson, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, said on his X account.

“The Rafah crossing area has ongoing military operations. There have been continued bombardments in this area throughout the day," he added. “This is disastrous for the humanitarian response.”

On Monday, the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel's long-feared attack on the city, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

And on Tuesday, the army seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, a vital route for humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.

Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.

More than 34,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,400 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its entire population on the verge of starvation.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar