More humanitarian aid flowed into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, but the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees warned that it would run out of fuel by Wednesday, complicating further assistance amid ongoing Israeli aerial attacks on Hamas militants and the looming threat of an Israeli ground invasion.

"Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries," said Philippe Lazzarini, the agency's commissioner-general. "Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance."

Lazzarini said UNRWA - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - "is the largest humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip." He said it is currently supporting more than a half million people out of the million people displaced across the Gaza Strip.

But he said that "without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen."

"I call on all parties and those with influence over them to immediately allow fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip and to ensure that fuel is strictly used to prevent a collapse of the humanitarian response," Lazzarini said.

The fighting in Gaza has taken a toll on the relief agency, too, with UNRWA reporting that 29 of its staff members have been killed since the shock October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people. Israel has since bombarded Gaza, with Palestinian officials saying nearly 4,400 people have been killed. Major buildings have been destroyed in the territory, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.

The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt opened Saturday morning for the first time since the Hamas attack. A convoy of about 20 trucks delivered food, water, medicine, and other necessities to Gaza residents.

Cindy McCain, the executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program, told ABC's "This Week" show that 17 more truckloads of humanitarian aid passed into Gaza on Sunday and that another 40 were expected on Monday. She said the need for more assistance was substantial.

Palestinian officials expressed disappointment that Gaza did not receive supplies of fuel.

"Excluding the fuel from the humanitarian aid means the lives of patients and injured will remain at risk. Gaza hospitals are running out of the basic requirements to pursue medical interventions," the Gaza Health Ministry said, adding that the aid was only 3% of what it used to get into Gaza before the crisis.

The United Nations has been pressing Israel and Egypt to allow aid to flow freely into Gaza, where hundreds of thousands need assistance after two weeks of bombing and a strict blockade of food and fuel by Israel.

The United Nations said the aid would be received and distributed by the Palestinian Red Crescent, with the consent of Hamas, which controls Gaza.

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