Several United Nations agencies may be forced to cut back or end humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip because of Israeli restrictions on their movement into and out of the territory, a U.N. statement said Friday. Most of the 1.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are partly dependent on aid handouts, and stopping shipments there would be a disaster.
| Gee. That's too bad. What happened? |
Israel has prohibited vehicles belonging to the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies from crossing the Erez checkpoint into Gaza for the last three weeks, and staff must go through on foot. Food shipments through Karni, the only commercial crossing point in Gaza, have also been obstructed. Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador, Arye Meckel, said the mission in New York had received no complaints. He said the issue didn't come up during a meeting this week between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, or meetings he had this week with the U.N. envoy to the Mideast and the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "It would be a better idea, if the U.N. has any complaints, that they come to us before they go to the press," Meckel said. "Without having received any complaints nevertheless, if there are any restrictions they must be based on the security situation there."
| Something about the Paleos opening the gates of hell. Again. |
The restrictions appear to be part of stepped-up security in the West Bank and Gaza amid an Israeli offensive before a possible withdrawal from Gaza. |