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Last update - 12:40 19/11/2008
Israel rebuffs call by UN Chief Ban to open Gaza crossings
By Reuters
Tags: Israel News, Ehud Olmert 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday rebuffed a call by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through crossings Israel has largely sealed in two weeks of violence.

Asked by Army Radio about Ban's appeal and whether Israel intends to reopen the passages, Barak said: "No. There needs to be calm in order for the crossings to be opened."

Ban Ki-moon told outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday he was deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged Israel to allow UN aid workers into the Strip.
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"The secretary-general today telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to express his deep concern over the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza," the UN press office said in a statement.

"He strongly urged the prime minister to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies and of concerned United Nations personnel into Gaza," it said.

Olmert denounced the continuing rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, but "agreed to look seriously into the urgent matter" raised by Ban, the statement said.

Israel allowed 33 truckloads of supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there.

Before that Israel had not allowed UNRWA, a United Nations agency that aids some 750,000 refugees in Gaza, to bring in supplies since November 4during cross-border fighting in which more than a dozen Palestinian fighters were killed.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he ordered the crossings to remain closed on Wednesday "following continued rocket fire towards Israel".

On Tuesday, Israel reacted angrily to comments madeby the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in which she called for an immediate end to its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which she said breached international and humanitarian law.

In a statement from her Geneva-based office, Pillay urged Israel to allow the flow of aid including food, medicines and fuel to resume, and to restore electricity and water services in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Pillay was also quoted as saying that 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months.

She also called for Israel to end airstrikes and incursions in Gaza, and for Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets into Israel.

Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza after the Islamic group Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2006. It recently tightened the sanctions because of rocket fire at Israeli towns.

Pillay's demands provoked an angry response from Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, who accused her of being utterly shortsighted and repeating blatant misinformation.

"Overall responsibility for the situation in the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas, which invests all of its resources in arms and terrorism instead of providing for the civilians that it brutally controls," Aharon Leshno-Yaar said, adding that Palestinian groups had fired more 170 rockets and mortars at Israel during the past 10 days.

Leshno-Yaar also rejected Pillay's claim that Israel has cut off essential supplies to Gaza.

"Electricity and water continue to flow from Israel to Gaza, and 33 trucks laden with supplies arrived in Gaza yesterday, with more waiting to enter as soon as Hamas ends its violent attacks," he said.
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  1.   Who to believe? 04:17  |  BBSNews 19/11/08
  2.   IF THE UN CHIEF IS 09:36  |  Robert 19/11/08
  3.   Same routine as a hundred times before 11:01  |  Natallie Durson 19/11/08
  4.   PA: `Hamas is staging Gaza blackouts` Jeusalem Post 12:07  |  PETER SM 19/11/08
  5.   All aid should flow from Egypt,Olmert capitulates as always 12:07  |  Absolute Sweden 19/11/08
  6.   what barak conveniently leaves out is 12:45  |  rm 19/11/08
  7.   Same post as a hundred times before 12:55  |  Ilya 19/11/08
  8.   Absolute 15:16  |  Kimmo 19/11/08
  9.   Livni: we are oscar myer! answer to a higher source: 15:48  |  ourselves 19/11/08
  10.   nonsense 15:51  |  Murray 19/11/08
  11.   BBS NEWS 16:13  |  utagawa 19/11/08
  12.   French Revolution Revisited 16:14  |  utagawa 19/11/08
  13.   What is in a (UN) 16:36  |  Mary 19/11/08
  14.   palpress: the power shortages are fakes by hamas 16:39  |  Arthur 19/11/08
  15.   # nutullie and the blind tunnelling through egypt 17:30  |  victor hardman 19/11/08
  16.   If they`re deprived of human rights it is by Hamas 17:38  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 19/11/08
  17.   Why cant they go thru Egypt 00:51  |  Herbert Kaine 20/11/08
  18.   Peter, Which PA Officials in Ramallah have...(2nd) 05:06  |  Reader 20/11/08
  19.   if they`re put at risk it is by Hamas 06:51  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 20/11/08
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