UN calls for funding to fuel essential facilities in Gaza

JERUSALEM – The U.N. is making an urgent appeal for funds to provide emergency fuel for essential services in the Gaza Strip.

The appeal Monday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs called for donors to provide at least $4.5 million in order to keep about 250 hospitals, water and sanitation facilities operating at a minimum level.

The facilities rely on generators because of widespread power shortages in Gaza, where many residents only have about four hours of electricity a day.

The appeal comes amid Egyptian efforts to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, who on a number of occasions have reached the brink of all-out war in recent months.

Israel and Egypt have imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power in 2007.