UNRWA says will suspend aid to Gaza if Israeli closure continues

International food aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip will have to be suspended if an Israeli closure of the coastal territory continues, a UN aid agency spokesman said Monday.

"We are going to have to suspend operations on Thursday or Friday ... Because we are running out of plastic bags we use for food, and we are running out of fuel," Said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which distributes food aid to 860,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza.

Most of Gaza's 1.4 million residents are reliant on food aid for survival. However, another UN agency which provides food to 270,000 Gaza residents said it had enough supplies only until the end of this week. UNRWA will run out of the plastic bags on Thursday, said its Gaza director, John Ging. The bags are used for sugar and lentil rations.

Ging said he expected fuel supplies to run out at the same time. UNRWA is now giving emergency fuel supplies to hospitals and pharmacies. The agency operates schools, medical clinics and distributes food throughout Gaza. "All the humanitarian agencies on ground are trying to avert a disaster but we are running out of time, Ging said. "We are all in a very vulnerable situation because of limited supplies."

Ging said his staff made an application to Israel's Defense Ministry, which controls what can enter Gaza, to receive more plastic bags. He said the application was approved on Sunday, but that Israel had already sealed off Gaza by that stage.

Defense Ministry officials were not available for comment.