Last update - 00:00 26/06/2007
EU aid chief urges opening of Gaza-Israel border for supplies
By News Agencies
European Union Aid Commissioner Louis Michel urged Israel on Tuesday to open the main border crossing with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in order to enable crucial relief supplies to reach the 1.5 million people living there.
"In the current situation, there is a real risk that Gaza will begin to look like a citadel under siege, where the civilian population is trapped and even basic needs cannot be met," Michel said in a statement.
Israel has resisted calls by the United Nations and others to open the Karni crossing that is the territory's economic lifeline, citing security concerns. Israel has promised to allow passage of supplies through smaller border crossings instead.
"Humanitarian aid is neutral. It does not seek to confer any advantage on any party or imply any form of political recognition," Michel said, adding that 30 million euros of EU supplies and funds were "ready and waiting."
Israel and the United States want to isolate Hamas economically, diplomatically and militarily in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist group seized control more than a week ago, while allowing funds and goods to flow to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's emergency administration in the occupied West Bank.
UN food agency: Number of Gazans relying on handouts growing daily
The number of people in the Gaza Strip relying on food handouts has increased since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control there two weeks ago, the UN food agency said Tuesday.
Some 275,000 Gazans were receiving aid from the World Food Program before the takeover, but that number has grown to at least 377,000, spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.
"This number has increased, and it is increasing daily because of the situation," she said.
About 60 commercial trucks and 11 carrying food aid were passing through the Sufa cargo crossing on the Israel-Gaza border Tuesday, Berthiaume said.
"There is a possibility of a humanitarian crisis, and we appeal to all parties involved to make sure that commercial life starts again, that food gets into Gaza as well as relief," she said, adding that cooperation with Israel on the issue of aid shipments was good.
While there are no reports of acute malnutrition in Gaza, about 70 percent of the population of the small Palestinian territory suffers from what is termed food insecurity - difficulty getting hold of even basic foodstuffs.
That percentage was likely to increase unless circumstances changed, Berthiaume said.