UN food agency decries 'appalling' situation in Gaza

The White House has declined comment on whether an Israeli ground incursion would be justified.
Both the White House and the State Department have also refused to comment on reports that some diplomats are suggesting international monitors be brought into Gaza as part of any peace deal.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A European Union delegation is heading to the Middle East to meet with regional leaders and seek a Gaza cease-fire, officials said Saturday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet the delegation Monday in Ramallah, West Bank, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said. Abbas then plans to head to New York for meetings at the United Nations, Erakat said.
Monday's first meeting will involve members of the European Union leadership and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country just finished a six-month EU presidency. The Czech Republic, which took over the role from France, will lead the delegation, the Czech presidency said.
The officials would try to establish a dialogue between the EU and Middle East to look for possible ways of reestablishing an armistice in Gaza, the Czech presidency said. They would also be looking for ways to provide humanitarian aid to people in Gaza.
The delegation heads to Egypt on Sunday for a meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. They would hold a full day of meetings in Israel and the West Bank on Monday, and on Tuesday they head to Jordan to meet with Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi
Europe's stepped-up initiative comes as the United States stays out of the spotlight.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington is talking with European, Israeli and Arab partners to find a "sustainable" solution in Gaza, but at this point, Rice has no plans to head to the region.
The White House has declined comment on whether an Israeli ground incursion would be justified.
Both the White House and the State Department have also refused to comment on reports that some diplomats are suggesting international monitors be brought into Gaza as part of any peace deal.
E-mail to a friend

Share this on:
Mixx Digg Facebook del.icio.us reddit StumbleUpon MySpace

As evidenced in the videos, the violation of human rights in Gaza, the Palestinian identity and economy of the Palestinians in the region, are key factors for the increase in violence in the parties involved shared the same cultural and economic area but with very big economy differences in welfare and level of life that fueled the tension between palestinian and israelians.Different economy support different way of meanings more than religion or ideology. Peace under very big economy difference and level of life, it is very inestable for both peoples even if they do and effort in humans rigths and control of terrorism without change the economy and education in the palestinian area with opportunity for all, the two key for peace, everywhere.Gualterio Nunez Estrada, Sarasota, Florida.

UNITED NATIONS NEWS.
Gaza conflict threatens regional peace and stability, UN official cautions

2 January 2009 – The future of the Middle-East peace process, the stability of the region and the safety of ordinary people in the Gaza Strip have been seriously jeopardized by the “irresponsibility of Hamas rocket attacks” and the “excessiveness of Israel’s response,” a senior United Nations envoy warned today, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict intensify.
On the seventh day of Israeli bombing raids on Gaza and with more than 400 Gazans reportedly killed and thousands wounded, Robert Serry, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, called for the international community to step up its attempts to end the growing humanitarian crisis.
“Much of Gaza’s infrastructure has now been destroyed. The death and injury toll in Gaza continues to mount. Hamas rockets are now reaching 40 kilometres into Israel,” Mr. Serry said via video-link from Jerusalem.
Israel has cited rocket and other attacks by militants in Gaza against Israeli civilians as the reason for its military offensive and closing crossings into Gaza for much of the previous two months.
With Israeli tanks on Gaza’s border, the envoy underscored the urgency and importance of an immediate and lasting cessation of hostilities to avoid an even deeper and deadlier conflict.
He said that he will join a number of Arab leaders slated to arrive in New York next week to find a solution to the crisis.
“Diplomatic efforts are underway involving many players, including the United States, the European Union (EU), the Arab League, Turkey and others, and we believe the roles of the Quartet [comprising the UN, EU, Russia and the US] and the Security Council are going to be very important.”
While a ceasefire is vital, a return to the previous situation would not be enough to maintain security or find a durable peace, Mr. Serry said.
He stressed the need for the uninterrupted reopening of crossings into Gaza with a commitment from both sides to fully respect a ceasefire, including an end to all rocket attacks from Gaza and weapons smuggling into the Hamas controlled territory.
“It will also require bringing Gaza back into the fold of the Palestinian Authority through arrangements on the ground and renewed efforts to reunite Gaza and the West Bank,” he said, adding that “it is more vital than ever that Israeli-Palestinian peace is achieved. The underlying issues must be addressed: end of conflict, end of occupation and the creation of the Palestinian State alongside a secure Israel.”
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been distributing bread to families in the hardest-hit areas of Gaza, and said today that it urgently requires $9 million to meet additional food needs caused by the upsurge in fighting.
The bombing raids over the last week have greatly worsened the already harsh humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is home to an estimated 1.5 million people facing severe shortages of food, fuel and cooking gas.
“The current situation in Gaza is appalling and many basic food items are no longer available on the market,” said Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, WFP Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Yesterday, the agency started handing out bread to around 15,000 people in the northern city of Beit Hanoun – one of the poorest areas in Gaza and the most heavily affected by the conflict.
However, the recent Israeli offensive has prevented WFP and its partners from operating at full capacity and has delayed the regular distribution of food to nearly 270,000 people in the region.
“We are responding to the immediate food emergency needs as much as we can, but the destruction of local infrastructure and the shortages of basic utilities such as fuel and gas means that more people will fall into poverty, and have no other option than to be assisted by the international community,” said Ms. Nieuwenhuyse.
WFP’s 3,300-ton food stockpile will run out during the next month as distributions resume, security permitting, with more food convoys expected to replenish the supplies.
Due to the scarcity of wheat, most of the mills and bakeries in Gaza have stopped working and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food for Palestinians.
Although it was able to hand out some food supplies to refugees and non-refugees who queued at its warehouses, Sami Mshasha, a spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said today that “the continued bombardment of Gaza and the absence of safe passages meant that not all the refugees were able to reach these distribution centres.”
UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, added her voice to the chorus of senior officials calling for an immediate halt of military hostilities that are heavily impacting the civilian population in the area.
“We call for humanitarian assistance, including food, medical supplies and equipment to be promptly allowed into Gaza,” said Ms. Obaid in a press release issued by her office. “This is critical to address the needs of Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants, especially women and children.”
Women and children were already vulnerable before the current hostilities spiraled out of control. The blockade posed particular problems for pregnant women unable to access maternal health services, which coupled with widespread poverty, resulted in high levels of anemia and malnutrition.
The current crisis is forcing more women to deliver at home, exposing them to maternal death or injury, as maternity wards are being used as surgical facilities to treat the wounded. The agency also said that displacement, following total or partial destruction of their homes, is causing untold psychological and physical damage to women and children.
In a related development, a group of independent UN human rights experts said today that it was “deeply alarmed” at the continuing violence in Gaza and called on all parties to end attacks putting civilian lives at risk.
“Both air strikes by Israeli Government forces and rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel are resulting in inexcusable loss of life and placing the civilian populations in the affected areas in extreme danger,” said Asma Jahangir, chairperson of the experts’ coordinating body, said in a statement.
She stressed that international human rights law “imposes binding obligations on all parties in situations of armed conflict.”
The chairperson said that neither Israel’s use of disproportionate force, missiles launched from Gaza, nor the general disregard for the safety of non-combatants can justify either side’s aggression.
The UN experts voiced particular concern at the impact of the current violence and destruction of vital infrastructure on the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and called on all parties to ensure access for humanitarian relief efforts and supplies.
UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, told UN Radio today that although the call from the experts is important, “it comes in a way late in the day because the Palestinians, and particularly those in Gaza, have really required and deserve protection from the international community for quite some time, even before these attacks that began on 27 December.”
Independent experts, known as special rapporteurs, serve in an autonomous unpaid capacity and report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
News Tracker: past stories on this issue
UN seeks $34 million to aid Gazans as Israeli military operation continues

Israelis look out towards the northern Gaza Strip from a hill near the southern town of Sderot during an air strike, January 1, 2009.(Nikola Solic/Reuters)

This area ... is one of the poorest and most heavily affected by the recent conflict," she added.
Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have hampered humanitarian efforts targeting 265,000 people, the statement said.

"The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food for Palestinian people," it added.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the United States and its Middle East partners are working for a ceasefire to finally put an end to rocket attacks out of Hamas-run Gaza.
"We are working toward a ceasefire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza," Rice told reporters after talks with President George W. Bush at the White House.

ROME (AFP) – The UN emergency food programme has begun distributing bread to families caught up in an "appalling" humanitarian situation in Gaza, the agency said Friday.
"The current situation in Gaza is appalling, and many basic food items are no longer available on the market," the World Food Programme's representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, said in a statement.
The Rome-based agency appealed for nine million dollars (6.4 million euros) in emergency funds "to meet foreseen additional food needs" as the conflict raged unabated.
Seven days into the offensive on Friday, Israeli jets staged more than 30 new raids on the densely populated territory, which it said targeted rocket launching sites and Hamas buildings.
Gaza officials say at least 430 Palestinians have been killed and 2,250 people wounded in Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" launched in response to rocket attacks from the territory that have claimed four lives in the past week.
"As an emergency response to alleviate the suffering of families living close to areas affected by conflict," the WFP began distributing bread to some 15,000 first-time recipients in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, Van Nieuwenhuyse said.
"This area ... is one of the poorest and most heavily affected by the recent conflict," she added.
Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have hampered humanitarian efforts targeting 265,000 people, the statement said.
"The scarcity of wheat has meant that the majority of mills and bakeries have stopped working in Gaza, and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food for Palestinian people," it added.