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Gaza on verge of humanitarian crisis
As many as 12 United Nations agencies have expressed serious concern about a looming humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The organisations - including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) - said that the ongoing Israeli offensive in northern Gaza is exasperating an already appalling humanitarian situation and "pushing the Palestinian population into a deep crisis".
Over 80 Palestinians have been killed, including 24 children, since the Israeli army stormed northern Gaza last Tuesday under the pretext of stopping Qassam rockets being fired into its terriroty.
The Israeli offensive has also left 316 Palestinians, including 110 children, injured.
No access
According to the report by one of the signatories, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Israeli army has denied UN personnel secure access into Gaza for the last 14 days.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, has so far been unable to deliver emergency food aid to the besieged areas of northern Gaza, where some 50,000 residents are with limited food, water, and electricity.
"As the incursion approaches the end of the first week there is growing concern among international organisations over the ability of people to access food. In the worst affected areas, shops remain closed and people are too afraid to leave their homes to buy food.
Both UNRWA and the World Food Programme (WFP) have been unable to undertake distributions since the start of the operation."
Education disrupted
All schools in the areas have been closed for fear of Israeli attacks. Two UNRWA schools have been damaged by Israeli tanks, and one kindergarten serving some 500 children, has been completely destroyed.
The report also said poverty among Palestinians was set to rise to 72% this year, following increased food insecurity in the wake of Israeli operations.
According to the report, over 50% of Bait Hanun’s agricultural land - considered Gaza's breadbasket - has been destroyed in the last four years.
"Economic options for Palestinians are disappearing and coping mechanisms for the community are nearly exhausted. Malnutrition rates have increased...education standards have slumped…and UNICEF reports a marked increase in psychological disorders among Palestinian children," read the report.
In addition, the report found that nearly 25,000 Gazans have been made homeless by Israeli demolitions since the start of the Intifada.
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AF904A78-C090-4B22-9C9D-1F393DA90F90.htm
Over 80 Palestinians have been killed, including 24 children, since the Israeli army stormed northern Gaza last Tuesday under the pretext of stopping Qassam rockets being fired into its terriroty.
The Israeli offensive has also left 316 Palestinians, including 110 children, injured.
No access
According to the report by one of the signatories, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Israeli army has denied UN personnel secure access into Gaza for the last 14 days.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, has so far been unable to deliver emergency food aid to the besieged areas of northern Gaza, where some 50,000 residents are with limited food, water, and electricity.
"As the incursion approaches the end of the first week there is growing concern among international organisations over the ability of people to access food. In the worst affected areas, shops remain closed and people are too afraid to leave their homes to buy food.
Both UNRWA and the World Food Programme (WFP) have been unable to undertake distributions since the start of the operation."
Education disrupted
All schools in the areas have been closed for fear of Israeli attacks. Two UNRWA schools have been damaged by Israeli tanks, and one kindergarten serving some 500 children, has been completely destroyed.
The report also said poverty among Palestinians was set to rise to 72% this year, following increased food insecurity in the wake of Israeli operations.
According to the report, over 50% of Bait Hanun’s agricultural land - considered Gaza's breadbasket - has been destroyed in the last four years.
"Economic options for Palestinians are disappearing and coping mechanisms for the community are nearly exhausted. Malnutrition rates have increased...education standards have slumped…and UNICEF reports a marked increase in psychological disorders among Palestinian children," read the report.
In addition, the report found that nearly 25,000 Gazans have been made homeless by Israeli demolitions since the start of the Intifada.
Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AF904A78-C090-4B22-9C9D-1F393DA90F90.htm
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And just whose fault is this? Perhaps if Arabs in Gaza would stop trying to kill Israelis it would stop. Perhaps they may find themselves shoved over the border into Egypt.
bark bark bark bark bark bark bark
The house at the end of Abed Rabbo Street has become a deadly place to be.
It sits on the east side of the Jabaliya refugee camp - the side that the Israeli army punched into just over a week ago.
The wrecked neighbourhood echoes to the sound of machine gun fire.
A 16-year-old girl called Islam Dawidar was baking bread with her mother in a room in the Abed Rabbo Street house when one of those bursts of fire came in through the window.
"I heard shouting and I came in, and she was lying on the floor covered in blood," said her father, Maher Dawidar.
"We called an ambulance, and it came in 15 minutes, but she was already dead."
Leaflets
More than 70 Palestinians have died since the Israelis launched operation Days of Repentance.
The Israeli human rights organisation, B'tselem, says more than 30 of them were civilians - like Islam Dawidar.
The Israeli army has dropped leaflets on Jabaliya telling the people of the camp that groups like Hamas are making their already grim, often poverty-stricken lives worse.
They would not have the Israeli army on their doorstep, if it was not for the violent campaigns waged by the militants.
Nobody has paid a higher price than Mr Dawidar. But he has not turned against Hamas.
"The Israelis are the attackers and occupiers. They are attacking us with tanks and planes. What should we do? Should we just sit here? What Hamas is doing is right."
Picture
Further up the east side of the camp there is evidence of the destruction that the Israelis have brought to Jabaliya.
The Tel Zataar kindergarten is in ruins. A bulldozer has wrecked the school that was built just five years ago for 500 children.
In the all the wreckage, a picture has survived of a boy and a girl in a field of flowers. Over their heads is written the words "Our Palestine".
But the full extent of the damage done to Jabaliya will only become clear once the army pulls out.
Not far away in the alleyways, you find the reason why the Israelis have come to the camp.
Militants move through the alleyways. They go wearing masks and carrying machine guns and grenades, and they look for ways to strike at the Israelis.
But the army is watching for them too. All the time the small, unmanned Israeli spy planes circle slowly over Jabaliya.
When the militants show themselves, they are struck with devastating force.
Bitter end
The masked men from Hamas and Islamic Jihad are Israel's most implacable enemies.
They want an end not only to the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which has lasted nearly 40 years.
They believe that Israel itself sits on Palestinian land, and they say that they are ready to fight for generations to try to drive the Israelis into the sea.
But the army has come here now to counter a much more immediate threat.
Hamas has been bombarding areas just beyond Gaza with increasingly powerful rockets.
Last week one hit the town of Sderot. It blew the legs off a little boy, killing him and another child he was playing with.
Israel says no state could sit back and allow its most bitter enemies to rocket its homes and schools.
I put Israel's argument to one of the militants in the alleyways. "Let them come," he said. "We will receive them."
He carried two rocket-propelled grenades on his back.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3718870.stm
It sits on the east side of the Jabaliya refugee camp - the side that the Israeli army punched into just over a week ago.
The wrecked neighbourhood echoes to the sound of machine gun fire.
A 16-year-old girl called Islam Dawidar was baking bread with her mother in a room in the Abed Rabbo Street house when one of those bursts of fire came in through the window.
"I heard shouting and I came in, and she was lying on the floor covered in blood," said her father, Maher Dawidar.
"We called an ambulance, and it came in 15 minutes, but she was already dead."
Leaflets
More than 70 Palestinians have died since the Israelis launched operation Days of Repentance.
The Israeli human rights organisation, B'tselem, says more than 30 of them were civilians - like Islam Dawidar.
The Israeli army has dropped leaflets on Jabaliya telling the people of the camp that groups like Hamas are making their already grim, often poverty-stricken lives worse.
They would not have the Israeli army on their doorstep, if it was not for the violent campaigns waged by the militants.
Nobody has paid a higher price than Mr Dawidar. But he has not turned against Hamas.
"The Israelis are the attackers and occupiers. They are attacking us with tanks and planes. What should we do? Should we just sit here? What Hamas is doing is right."
Picture
Further up the east side of the camp there is evidence of the destruction that the Israelis have brought to Jabaliya.
The Tel Zataar kindergarten is in ruins. A bulldozer has wrecked the school that was built just five years ago for 500 children.
In the all the wreckage, a picture has survived of a boy and a girl in a field of flowers. Over their heads is written the words "Our Palestine".
But the full extent of the damage done to Jabaliya will only become clear once the army pulls out.
Not far away in the alleyways, you find the reason why the Israelis have come to the camp.
Militants move through the alleyways. They go wearing masks and carrying machine guns and grenades, and they look for ways to strike at the Israelis.
But the army is watching for them too. All the time the small, unmanned Israeli spy planes circle slowly over Jabaliya.
When the militants show themselves, they are struck with devastating force.
Bitter end
The masked men from Hamas and Islamic Jihad are Israel's most implacable enemies.
They want an end not only to the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, which has lasted nearly 40 years.
They believe that Israel itself sits on Palestinian land, and they say that they are ready to fight for generations to try to drive the Israelis into the sea.
But the army has come here now to counter a much more immediate threat.
Hamas has been bombarding areas just beyond Gaza with increasingly powerful rockets.
Last week one hit the town of Sderot. It blew the legs off a little boy, killing him and another child he was playing with.
Israel says no state could sit back and allow its most bitter enemies to rocket its homes and schools.
I put Israel's argument to one of the militants in the alleyways. "Let them come," he said. "We will receive them."
He carried two rocket-propelled grenades on his back.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3718870.stm
A fes days ago I read an article over a poll among the Palestinians. Most of them were willing the terrorist attacks to stop so that they can live in peace.
As for the poverty of the Palestinians, what is Arafat doing with the international aid? It is known that he uses it to pay terrorists and for his own account. In fact, he is one of the wealthiest men in the world according to Forbes,and his money comes from the international aid.
As for the poverty of the Palestinians, what is Arafat doing with the international aid? It is known that he uses it to pay terrorists and for his own account. In fact, he is one of the wealthiest men in the world according to Forbes,and his money comes from the international aid.
And the Palestinian leaders ignore the desires of the people and go on with terrorism.
That's what the Nazis said about the Ghetto Fighters of Warsaw.
so where is that stunning anarchist critique of the arafat leadership machine? too busy carrying palestinian flags at peace marches to ask those kinds of questions, maybe?
You ask where those people who pretend defending the Palestinians are. As it seems, they don't mind about the Palestinians. The Palestinians are a covert their "supporters" use against Israel. That's all.
They protest because the Palestinians are so poor. But some months ago it was known what Arafat did with the international aid. Have you heard them protest?
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