UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30: The UN on Wednesday appealed to the Israeli army to allow the movement of essential supplies in the Gaza strip. The Palestinians would be facing the threat of malnutrition and other hardships if the Israeli crackdown continued, it said.

Only 32 truckloads of goods have entered Gaza since Jan 18 when Israel blockaded the occupied territory, the office of the UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) reported. The area received an average of 250 truckloads before June 2007.

UNSCO said a backlog of 224 trucks, belonging to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), has now accumulated.

WFP’s distribution programmes in some areas of Gaza – home to an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians – have already run out of sugar and salt.

The UNSCO officials noted that the influx of goods across the border from Egypt into Gaza was temporary and the situation was further complicated because the UN’s Palestinian staff, who had permits to exit Gaza, were not allowed to do so.

The WHO also expressed concern over the shortage of fuel because of a strike in response to the Israeli border restrictions, effectively curtailing the supply of fuel to the territory’s healthcare facilities. A team of UN staff is planning to meet representatives of the distributors union to encourage them to allow the fuel to flow.

Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) reported that some water wells were functioning again after being reconnected to electricity and generators, but 40 per cent of Gazans had limited access to safe water.