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<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/20081113143955227206.html" eudora="autourl">
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UPDATED ON:<br>
Thursday, November 13, 2008 <br>
22:34 Mecca time, 19:34 GMT <br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>Israel stops Gaza aid delivery <br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>The United Nations is to suspend its food
distribution effort to the Gaza Strip after Israel said it would not
allow emergency supplies into the Palestinian territory, a UN spokesman
has said.<br><br>
Israel had initially permitted the UN Relief and Works Agency to send 30
lorries of supplies to Gaza on Thursday but later reversed the agreement,
citing a barrage of mortar fire by fighters in the enclave.<br><br>
"They [Israel] have told us the crossings are closed today. At the
end of today we will suspend our food distribution," Chris Gunnes, a
spokesman for Unrwa, said on Thursday.<br><br>
"Our warehouses are effectively empty."<br><br>
Unrwa usually distributes emergency food rations to about 750,000 people
in the Gaza Strip, half the population of the territory.<br><br>
"Pushing people to the brink of desperation every few months and
forcing Unrwa into yet another cycle of crisis management, is not in the
interest of anyone who believes in peace, moderation and
stability," Gunness said.<br><br>
<b>Lorries turned back<br><br>
</b>The passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza has repeatedly been stopped
over the last few days, aid agencies say, marking a turning point on
Israel’s grip on the territory.<br><br>
The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday
that Israeli border authorities had turned back its lorries from the
Kerem Shalom crossing.<br>
<br>
Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent, said that a queue of lorries
had waited at the Kerem Shalom crossing throughout Thursday, waiting in
vain for the Israeli military's green light. <br><br>
"It is the second time this year that UN supplies have not reached
Palestinians," he said from the crossing point.<br><br>
"And it really highlights what Palestinians say has become their
routine - not knowing when border crossings will open, not when when they
can leave, and not knowing if they can get what they need."<br><br>
<b>Truce under pressure<br><br>
</b>Gaza, which is controlled by the Palestinian group Hamas, has faced a
crippling Israeli blockade in recent months.<br><br>
Israel says the blockade is aimed at improving its security from
Palestinian rocket fire.<br><br>
A six-month truce between Israel and Hamas has come under increasing
strain in the last week, after Israeli forces entered Gaza in a move
against a tunnel network used by Palestinian fighters.<br><br>
At least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in recent
days, while more than 130 rockets have been fired from Gaza.<br><br>
"The rockets are a natural response to [Israel's] aggression,"
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said.<br><br>
<b>Power cut<br><br>
</b>In another development, Israel cut off European Union-funded fuel
supplies to Gaza's only power plant on Thursday.<br><br>
"It is completely shut down," Qanaan Obeid, an official from
the Palestinian Energy Authority, said.<br>
<br>
Between a quarter and a third of Gaza's power comes from the plant, with
the remainder the supplied by Egyptian and Israeli national grids.
<br><br>
Katharina Ritz, mission leader for the ICRC, said that "every day
the situation is getting more and more precarious for
Gazans".<br><br>
She said that medical equipment is in particularly short supply in the
coastal territory.<br><br>
Peter Lerner, an Israeli defence ministry spokesman, said that the
closure of the Gaza crossings came in response to rocket fire.<br><br>
Reopening the crossings "has been delayed because of the mortar
shelling that impedes the proper functioning of the crossing
points", he said.<br><br>
The Israeli government first implemented a blockade of the territory
after fighters loyal to Hamas, which Israel and the US deems a terrorist
organisation, forced Palestinian Fatah fighters out of Gaza in June
2007.<br><br>
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies <br><br>
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