OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/GAZA (Agencies)
Israel said on Friday it will maintain its closure of the Gaza Strip despite international concern over a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the aid-dependent Palestinian territory.
"This decision was taken because of the continuation of Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel," said Peter Lerner, a defense ministry spokesman.
In the meantime, Palestinian armed groups in Gaza said they will remain committed to a truce with Israel if the Jewish state reciprocates, Hamas's Gaza leader said on Friday, even as militants launched more attacks from the coastal territory.
"I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," said Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's most senior representative in Gaza.
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Restoring calm " I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as (Israel) abides by it, " Hamas representative in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh Both Israel and Hamas have sent signals they want to restore the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which began on June 19 and calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire and other attacks against the Jewish state.
It also demands Israel gradually ease the blockade it tightened on the Gaza Strip more than a year ago after Hamas Islamists routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in the impoverished territory.
Israel closed the Gaza border on Nov. 4, cutting food and fuel supplies, when its troops raided the coastal enclave to destroy what the army described as a tunnel built by militants to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The raid was followed by militant rocket and mortar fire.
Over the last two weeks of cross-border fighting, more than a dozen Palestinian militants have been killed and scores of rockets and mortar shells have been launched at Israel.
On Friday, Gaza militants fired one rocket towards the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, northeast of the Gaza Strip, and two mortar shells at troops operating along the border, an Israeli army spokesman said. |
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Humanitarian catastrophe " It's been closed for so much longer than ever before... and we have nothing in our warehouses... It will be a catastrophe if this persists, a disaster, " UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd Since the recent surge in violence, only 33 truckloads of basic supplies as well as limited quantities of fuel have been allowed into the impoverished coastal strip.
The United Nations urged Israel to reopen the crossings, saying the closure of Gaza contravenes international law.
The Israeli blockade has already forced UNRWA to suspend its food deliveries once last week. It suspended the distribution of rations last Friday before resuming on Tuesday after some supplies were allowed in the previous day.
The Head of the main U.N. aid agency for the Palestinians warned on Friday that Gaza faces a humanitarian "catastrophe" if Israel continues to prevent aid reaching the territory by blocking crossing points.
Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said the human toll of this month's sealing of Gaza's goods crossings was the gravest since the early days of a Palestinian uprising eight years ago.
"It's been closed for so much longer than ever before... and we have nothing in our warehouses... It will be a catastrophe if this persists, a disaster," said Abu Zayd, whose agency is the largest aid body providing services to Palestinian refugees.
At present, UNRWA provides rations for 820,000 people classed as refugees and the United Nations' World Food Program aids a further 200,000 people, Abu Zayd told Reuters.
UNRWA's food basket, which comprised nearly 60 percent of daily needs, including milk powder and sugar, had run out, Abu Zayd said. Most of the flour in mills would be consumed by end of the month.
Israel had been expected to significantly ease its blockade after a truce went into effect in June. It argues that militant attacks have made this impossible but Hamas accuses it of breaching the deal.
Senior defense ministry official Reserve Major General Amos Gilad, who led the Israeli side in the Egyptian-brokered negotiations for the truce, insisted that it remained in force and that he expected it to continue.
Asked in a Jerusalem Post interview if the truce had collapsed, he said: "No". |
