Gazans struggling to feed their children - UN

Source: AFP, 26-11-2008
OCCUPIED AL-QUDS): UN officials slammed as inadequate limited basic supplies "Israel" allowed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, saying the closures of recent weeks were forcing the territory's population to live from hand to mouth. The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes food rations to half of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million population, sent in 12 truckloads of supplies to the territory on Wednesday.
But its deputy commissioner general, Filippo Grandi, complained it was not enough.
"Since the 4th, we only had 16 trucks that entered Gaza and we need 15 trucks a day for the basics," Grandi said, speaking before the additional trucks were allowed through.
He said "170 trucks are waiting for clearance outside. This is a hand-to-mouth situation. It is like working to serve a population of 1 million refugees with hands tied in the back."
His comments were echoed by the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard. "Many people, especially in the Gaza Strip, are paying a heavy price, struggling daily to have enough food and water to feed and wash their children," Gaylard said.
The two men were speaking as UN and other humanitarian agencies launched an appeal for $462 million to fund a host of aid programs next year in response to what they called the deteriorating situation in the territories.
Gaylard said that for the first time more than 50 percent of families in Gaza were living below the poverty line.
"Israel" first began its large-scale siege of the Gaza Strip after the Islamic Hamas movement won parliamentary elections in 2006. The Jewish state tightened the siege following the ouster of the rival Fatah movement from the Gaza Strip in 2007 in what many have described as a pre-empting of a US-backed offensive by Fatah to drive the Islamic fighters from the enclave.
Various UN and EU officials have blasted the siege as "collective punishment of a civilian population," an act defined by the Fourth Geneva Convention as a war crime.
Under the terms of an Egyptian-mediated truce in June that virtually halted the violence in and around the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state had pledged to ease its blockade. But "Israel" never made good on its obligation.
The cease-fire largely held until November 4, when "Israel" invaded Gaza with tanks and soldiers, in an offensive that killed seven Hamas members. The breaking of the agreement prompted Gazan fighters to resume rocket fire.
"We have had approximately 40 trucks that went through the Kerem Shalom crossing today," said "Israeli" military spokesman Peter Lerner.
He said half of them were organized by UN agencies and the rest carried basic food products for the private sector. A further 20 trucks were expected to pass through later in the day.
"Through the Nahal Oz fuel depot they are sending in fuel for the power station and also cooking gas," Lerner added.
Gaza's sole power plant provides between 25 and 30 percent of the territory's electricity and repeated shutdowns have led to blackouts since "Israel" shattered the cease-fire on November 4.
On Tuesday, the assistant director of Gaza's energy authority, Kanaan Obeid, announced that the plant would not be able to resume power generation even if fuel supplies resumed as the repeated shutdowns had damaged parts of the production units that could not be replaced because of the illegal "Israeli" blockade.
But speaking in Washington on Tuesday, "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted that there was no humanitarian crisis in the territory.
He said: "The situation in Gaza is much better than presented outside!? We haven't done anything in Gaza that we should be ashamed of!?"
Various UN bodies, as well as a host of human rights groups, have deplored the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning of the long-term effects on the civilian population. A recent report by the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that malnutrition rates among Gaza's children were rapidly rising.
Since August pro-Palestinian activists have made three trips from Cyprus without being intercepted by the "Israeli" Navy. But "Israel" said on Wednesday that it should not be bypassed in the provision of aid to Gaza.