Gaza relief supplies stopped after death of worker

Uzbekistan News.Net
Thursday 8th January, 2009

UN relief workers have stopped aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after a UN driver was shot and killed by tank Israeli fire while on his way to a border crossing.

The UN said the clearly marked convoy carrying a UN flag and picking up supplies at the Erez crossing into Gaza had been coordinated with Israeli liaison officers who gave the green light for it to proceed. A second equally coordinated and marked UN medical convoy on its way to fetch the body of an UNRWA staffer killed in an earlier bombardment came under light arms fire in Gaza City.

“This is heartbreaking… a very, very difficult decision for us to take,” UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza John Ging told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York, speaking by video link from Gaza. “The population here are in a dreadful state and really need our help at this point but we have also a responsibility to our staff, and eager as they are, and believe me they are, we cannot fly in the face of the security situation.”

While UNRWA is perfectly prepared for reasonable risks in a conflict zone, “added to those is the fact that we cannot rely on firm commitments given by the Israeli side, carefully coordinated with them, green lights given to move… specifics provided, carefully coordinated throughout, and to have the Israeli forces on the ground firing at and now hitting aid workers.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the incidents, once again calling for an immediate ceasefire. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, he noted that four UNRWA local staff have been killed since the conflict started 13 days ago. Mr. Ging said that when another UN convoy came under fire Thursday, Israel said it was not firing at it but over it.

Until the safety of aid workers can be guaranteed, the agency has decided to protect the security of its staff and contractors.

According to UN officials, full operations will be resumed once there are guarantees of safety from the Israeli authorities.

The UN feeds 750,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza.

Each day, about 20,000 people have been picking up their food rations from various distribution points.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also said its health workers, particularly from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, must be granted around-the-clock safe passage to reach the wounded.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes in the news conference in New York referred to “absolutely horrifying” accounts that the International Red Cross had reached bombed houses in Zaitoun, finding 12 dead people and four children alive next to their dead mother on mattresses in one, and 15 wounded in another, noting that what was particularly shocking was that a nearby Israeli team must have been aware of the wounded, yet did nothing.

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