UN: The United Nations said yesterday that access for desperately needed aid convoys to southern Lebanon had not improved since Israel agreed to a 48-hour suspension of air strikes.
Khaled Mansour, UN spokesman in Lebanon, said the UN was forced to stick to the same procedure it had used before the suspension, of trying to get clearance for each aid convoy from the warring parties before leaving Beirut.
"We're planning to send three convoys to the south tomorrow but we're still waiting for the green light - which is not enough," he said. "There are massive needs in the region, and they are growing.
"If we want a system where we can send convoys anywhere over a period of 48 hours, then we need guidelines," Mr Mansour said. "We don't have the precise clarification of the terms of this policy and the exact guidelines."
In another setback for the aid effort, Israel told Belgium yesterday that it could not guarantee the safety of two military planes that were due to fly into Lebanon's capital Beirut with aid, Belgium's defence ministry said.
A ministry spokesman said other countries had also been told their aid flights could not land.
There was little let up in the hostilities in Lebanon yesterday despite Israel's agreement to a 48-hour suspension of air strikes and a 24-hour window for aid workers to reach the worst-hit areas in the south and for residents to flee.
Lebanese Red Cross workers could not reach Bint Jbeil, a town on the frontline of fighting between Hizbullah and the Israeli forces, medical sources said. The closest they got was Teeri, 4km northwest of the town.
The United Nations estimates up to 900,000 people have been displaced by the bombing and fighting in Lebanon but many civilians are still trapped, too poor to get transport or too scared to run the gauntlet of Israeli air strikes.