HUMANITARIAN AID:Three hours does not provide enough time for people to get supplies, says spokesman, writes Michael Jansen
ISRAEL'S THREE-HOUR pause in hostilities was welcomed by hard-pressed Palestinians and UN officials, who hope that soon the lull can become a firm truce.
The director of Gaza operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Irish national John Ging, said this was a positive development but warned that the plight of "one million Palestinians without food and 750,000 without water" needs to be addressed urgently.
Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on December 27th, 682 Palestinians have been killed, of whom 185 were children and 41 women; 2,500 people have been injured and 15,000 displaced.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said three hours did not provide enough time for UNRWA's 750,000 aid beneficiaries to secure supplies. He observed that the World Food Programme feeds another 265,000.
"The bombing and shelling has to stop. People cannot leave their homes," Mr Gunness said. "They have to come to our distribution centres to collect their rations . . . on foot, with their donkey carts. They are afraid to go out."
On a normal day UNRWA distributes food to about 20,000 people, but since half the agency's distribution centres are closed, the maximum number who could have secured supplies yesterday was only 10,000.
He said nothing had come of an Israeli proposal for a "humanitarian corridor" so far.
Only limited supplies are get- ting into Gaza through the Israeli- controlled crossings. Yesterday UNRWA received only 31 lorry-loads of food and medical supplies and five of fuel in the strip.
Before Israel tightened its siege and blockade in 2007, 500 lorries were entering Gaza daily.
Mr Gunness knew nothing of a joint Jordanian-EU plan to open a "humanitarian corridor" from Jordan through Israel to the Gaza frontier. He said there had been a steady flow of aid. UNRWA warehouses had sufficient stores but they could not be delivered because access was severely restricted through the Karem Shalom crossing, which could not handle the volume of supplies.
Israel had to open the Karni crossing ,with conveyor belts, and the Nahal Oz fuel transit facilities.
Mr Gunness said Gaza's sole power plant has had no fuel since Sunday.
Fifty volunteer physicians continued to wait at the Egyptian crossing at Rafah along with tonnes of medicines and foodstuffs donated by Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkey and other countries.
On Tuesday, Israel turned back a Jordanian lorry carrying 2,000 blood units bound for Gaza. Jordan's blood banks have collected more than 8,000 units for Gaza, where blood for transfusions is needed urgently. Hundreds more have been seeking to donate blood.