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2008-08-23 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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Middle East: Border closures impact people of Gaza, says UN official
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| But not nearly enough to modify their behavior ... |
(AKI) - People in Gaza are suffering from the impact of border closures and need to see tangible results of the recent ceasefire with Israel, the United Nations' relief agency said on Thursday.
Spokesman for the United Nations Relief Works Agency, Christopher Gunness, told Adnkronos International (AKI) from Gaza, that limited fuel supplies in particular were hampering people in their daily lives.
"We need to show the people of Gaza visible and concrete signs that the ceasefire is yielding results," he told AKI. "Since the beginning of the ceasefire, the situation has remained roughly the same, there has not been an appreciable increase in supplies. We are still woefully down from where we were two years ago."
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak closed all crossings points to Gaza on Wednesday, in response to a rocket attack against Israel by Palestinian militants.
Under the ceasefire agreement on 19 June between Israel and Hamas, Gaza's blockade was due to be eased in order to allow basic supplies into the Strip. Militants consider the failure to lift the economic blockade of Gaza a violation of the ceasefire.
Gunness said all major border crossings including Rafah, Erez and Nahal Oz remained closed on Thursday morning. "As far as our food supplies are concerned we are actually okay, the big push that we are trying for now, is for adequate supplies of concrete and obviously petrol," he told AKI.
He said fuel shortages imposed by Israel in the Gaza Strip has restricted economic activity and severely affected health services and humanitarian aid. "For our operations, UNRWA has enough fuel. But, what we need to do is get cars back on the streets of Gaza, our workers need to travel to work, they need to look after their family, shop and other things," he said. "What we need to do is to demonstrate to the people of Gaza that there is something concrete to show for the ceasefire, " concluded the UN official. 
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Posted by Fred 2008-08-23 00:00||
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File under: Hamas
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Posted by Waldemar Uneack9263 2008-08-23 03:51||
2008-08-23 03:51||
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Posted by Danielle 2008-08-23 10:08||
2008-08-23 10:08||
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