U.N.: Gaza aid supplies running low

GAZA, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A U.N. agency spokesman said Monday that food aid to Gaza residents will have to be halted soon if the economic closure of the territory continues.

Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, said Monday that Israel's economic closure of Gaza has led to shortages of supplies aid workers need to perform their jobs, The Jerusalem Post reported 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," Gunness said.

The agency distributes food to 860,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza, and a second U.N. agency that feeds 270,000 Gaza residents said it also expects to run out of supplies by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Miko Zarfati, a senior official of Israel Electric Corp., denied Monday power had been cut off to the Gaza Strip.

He told Ynetnews that his workers at the electricity-generating plant at Ashkelon in the strip were working around the clock despite the danger from Palestinian rocket attacks. Palestinians had charged Sunday that power production was being crimped by the Israeli Defense Ministry's decision late last week to stop the shipment of diesel fuel needed to run the plant, The Jerusalem Post reported.