"UN 'has run out of Gaza food aid' "
BBC News
November 13, 2008
On the Web at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7726943.stm
The UN has no more food to distribute in the Gaza Strip, the head of relief efforts in the area has warned.
John Ging said handouts for 750,000 Gazans would have to be suspended until Saturday at the earliest, and called Gaza's economic situation "a disaster".
Israel earlier denied entry to a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies.
It has prevented the transfer of all goods into Gaza for nearly a week, blaming continuing rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) distributes emergency aid to about half of Gaza's 1.5m population.
"We have run out [of food aid] this evening," said Mr Ging, Unrwa's senior official in Gaza.
"Unless the crossing points open... we won't be able to get that food into Gaza," he told Reuters news agency.
Access denied
Also on Thursday, Israel refused permission for a group of senior European diplomats to visit the coastal enclave.
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It has also prevented journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the territory.
Limited supplies of fuel were sent over on Tuesday after Gaza's only power plant ran out of diesel.
Militants say the mortar and rocket fire is their response to what they say is Israeli aggression against Gaza.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev insisted any improvement would be dependent on the Hamas movement which runs the Gaza Strip.
"There's been a combat situation and it's very difficult to have unhindered functioning of the border crossings in a situation where shooting is going on," he said.
Deadly clash
On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed four Palestinian militants from the Hamas movement, which has controlled Gaza since it wrested power from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
Witnesses said fighting broke out on the Gaza border after Israeli armoured vehicles crossed into the territory near Khan Younis.
The army said its soldiers were trying to stop militants plant a bomb near the security fence surrounding the strip.
The Gaza power plant provides most of the electricity used in Gaza City; Israel supplies most of the rest of the territory's energy needs, but the system is liable to become overloaded and blackouts are common.
Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, but pulled military forces and Jewish settlers out in the summer of 2005.
Access to the territory, which is home to about 1.5m Palestinians, remains under the control of Israel's military, as does its airspace and territorial waters.
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November 12, 2008
"Gaza Again Plunged into Darkness, Hunger as Israel Blocks Fuel, Food to Suffering Population"
November 12, 2008
On "Democracy Now", at:
http://i1.democracynow.org/2008/11/12/gaza_again_plunged_into_darkness_hunger
"Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has worsened in the aftermath of Israel’s latest blockade of fuel and food. We speak to Diana Buttu, a former lawyer for the Palestinian Authority, and Reverend Edwin “Eddie” Makue of the South African Council of Churches, a veteran of South Africa’s apartheid struggle. They are on an “anti-apartheid” speaking tour across the US for the next two weeks."
JUAN GONZALEZ: The United Nations refugee agency, which distributes food to half of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, has warned that it will run out of food in a day if Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip does not stop. It called the blockade “a physical as well as a mental punishment."
Israel is now allowing limited amounts of fuel after Gaza’s sole power plant came to a halt Monday, plunging the area into darkness. But Israel is still blocking food deliveries, and aid agencies estimate the new supply of fuel will run out within a day and a half....
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