There has been an outpouring of support for Gazans, mostly from the Arab world, but also from Europe, Venezuela and nongovernmental organizations, officials here said. Medical supplies go straight into Gaza through Egypt’s crossing at Rafah.
But Egypt will not allow anything else to pass through Rafah, insisting that all other aid travel first into Israel and then into Gaza. That is where the bottleneck has occurred. Two of the main problems have been the short window for supplies to pass and Israel’s decision to let few trucks go through, officials and volunteers here said. But another problem has to do with Egypt’s being unprepared to meet strict Israeli packing requirements, which would allow the goods to be passed through security scanners and onto Israeli trucks for delivery to Gaza.
The Egyptians tried to send through trucks carrying bags of flour and sugar, for example, only to have the Israelis send them back. Much has been repacked and reshipped, but some of the returned items are spilled out over the sandy earth at the crossing.
Israel must allow full access for aid and supplies to rehabilitate Gaza – UN relief chief
“Israel has a particular responsibility as the occupying power in this context, because of its control of Gaza’s borders with Israel, to respect the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told the Security Council in a report on his just-completed visit to Gaza, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“It is therefore critical that new steps are taken immediately by the Israeli authorities to move to the sustained re-opening of crossing points,” he said, stressing that improving the living conditions of Gaza’s 1.5 million people was vital to avoid further despair and undermining the two-state diplomatic solution to the decades-old Middle East conflict.
As he did frequently during the assault Israel launched on 27 December with the stated aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza, Mr. Holmes meted out blame to both sides in the conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment