Monday, August 28 2006 11:44 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: With UN agencies facing severe shortage of food, fuel and construction supplies due to the continuing Israeli blockade, relief operations in the Gaza Strip have come to a standstill.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has said it has just one week's fuel supply left and will not be able to distribute food to 830,000 people next week unless the Karni crossing reopens.

Karni, which is the principal goods terminal, has been closed since August 15.

Another crossing between Egypt and Gaza at Rafah opened yesterday for the first time in almost a week, enabling thousands of Gaza residents to cross in both directions, according to the UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which expressed hope that the crossing would remain open.

UNRWA said almost no construction supplies have entered Gaza since late June. Some 194,000 students are expected to return to school next week, and the agency stated it has run out of supplies to repair school buildings damaged in military operations over the last two months.

"Children are once again paying the price in this conflict," said John Ging, UNRWA's Director of Operations in Gaza, who described the overall humanitarian living conditions there as miserable, frustrating and still deteriorating.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, said the environment of extraordinary violence, insecurity and fear has led to a rising demand for psychosocial assistance among children.