(CNN) — 17 people have died in Gaza in the latest escalation between the Israeli army and Palestinian militantswhich began on Friday afternoon when Israel carried out airstrikes against Islamic Jihad targets, Midhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, told CNN.
Among the dead are at least four children, and two women, aged 23 and 79, Abbas said.
Israel says most of those killed in the airstrikes have been militants.
Abbas also said that Palestinian officials were seeing shortages of medical supplies, adding that hospitals were under pressure due to power outages caused by reduced fuel stocks.
The United Nations pointed to Saturday that the fuel for Gaza’s only power plant will run out within the day and that power cuts were already taking place.
Israel controls the entry of fuel into Gaza. According to an Israeli army spokesman who spoke to reporters on Friday, the fuel for the plant was supposed to enter the Strip, but the transfer was canceled when the military operation against Islamic Jihad began.
The UN, through its regional humanitarian coordinator, Lynn Hastings, also drew attention to the closure of the Erez terminal, the only point that people can cross between Israel and Gaza, which prevented people from traveling to Israel to receive medical treatment, it said in a statement.
“The movement and access of humanitarian personnel, for critical medical cases and for essential goods, including food and fuel to Gaza, must not be hindered so that humanitarian needs can be met,” the statement appealed.