GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The United Nations stopped distributing food to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after its vehicles ran out of fuel because of the Israeli blockade, a U.N. official said.
Israel countered that fuel is available, but said the Islamic group Hamas ruling Gaza is preventing it from being distributed.
A spokesman for the United Nations’ Relief Works Agency, Adnan Abu Hasna, said 700,000 Palestinians won’t be getting packages of basic foods because the agency could not bring in new shipments or distribute them without fuel for its vehicles.
Israel imposed a blockade after Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza in June. Israeli authorities ship fuel for Gaza’s power plant but maintain a ban on gasoline and diesel fuel for general use.
