Daily Gaza - UN Agency Suspends Operations Following Israeli Attacks | War and Peace

Daily Gaza - UN Agency Suspends Operations Following Israeli Attacks

Published January 08, 2009 @ 10:55PM PT

And the situation simply grows worse. UNRWA - the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees - announced Thursday that it was suspending operations in Gaza following increasing attacks against humanitarian personnel. According to a UNRWA spokesman:

"UNRWA decided to suspend all its operations in the Gaza Strip because of the increasing hostile actions against its premises and personnel."

The announcement follows three separate security incidents today, including the death of a civilian UNRWA contractor, who was killed by an Israeli tank shell while transfering humanitarian supplies through the Erez border crossing.

The January 8th Humanitarian Situation Report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides further details:

"A clearly marked UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) convoy was hit at 1400 hrs (1200 hrs GMT) on 8 January by three rounds of small arms, which hit one of the armoured vehicles. This occurred during the unilateral suspension of military activities by Israel. An ICRC-escorted convoy of 14 ambulances driving towards Rafah was hit by small arms fire, resulting in the injury of one person. Furthermore, during the morning of 8 January, a convoy came under fire at the Erez Crossing Point. One UNRWA contractor was shot and two were injured."

According to a UN spokesman, the convoy at the Erez crossing was "clearly displaying UN flags and livery". The New York Times reports that the convoy movements had been coordinated with the Israeli military in advance.

(Some news reports claim that not one but two contractors were killed at the Erez crossing.)

UNRWA distributes food and other aid to 750,000 people in Gaza.

Food shortages are a major concern. Supplies came through the crossings yesterday, but insecurity makes it difficult for aid agencies - and beneficiaries - to reach distribution points.

Even worse, the attack at the Erez crossing threatens to halt food deliveries indefinitely. UNRWA said it would resume work only when "the Israeli army can guarantee the safety and security of our staff". Furthermore, according to UN OCHA:

"There is only one transportation company authorized to handle the movement of goods at the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings. Following the Erez incident, and due to the prevailing insecurity, the company has now declared that it will suspend all movement until a cease-fire is reached or firm security guarantees are provided. In effect, aid convoys into Gaza are suspended even if crossings are opened."

To date, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports 758 Palestinian fatalities, including 257 children and 56 women. In addition, 3,100 Palestinians have been injured, including 1,080 children and 452 women.

Finally, to round out today's depressing news - the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that the Israeli military "failed to meet its obligations under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded" after denying medical personnel access to the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza city since January 3rd.

The Israeli military finally allowed ambulances into the area on January 7th. According to the ICRC:

"The ICRC/PRCS team found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.

In another house, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team found 15 other survivors of this attack including several wounded. In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses. Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area which they refused to do."

I don't even have words.

(And for those who think that Hamas is completely blameless, please read this article in the New York Times, about Hamas using civilians for cover.)

[Palestinians receiving flour at a food distribution center - Photo from the New York Times / AP]

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Comments (8)

You just couldn't help blaming the victim, could you.

Don't you know by now what smooth and expert lies the Israeli propaganda department produces? Did you learn nothing from the Bush promotion of the war on Iraq, and the cheering section for it in the NY Times news? Or did you support that one too?

And by the way, I don't support Hamas, their firing of rockets is an unconscionable response to Israel's acts of genocide.

Short history of Sderot:
Sderot was settled by Jews in 1951. In All That Remains, Walid Khalidi says that Sderot, along with the settlement of Or ha-Ner, founded in 1957, were established on the village lands of Najd, which means "elevated plain" in Arabic. According to Umkhalil, Najd's Palestinian villagers, approximately 620 in 1945, were expelled on 13 May 1948, before Israel was declared a state and before any Arab armies entered Palestine. UN Resolution 194 and also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13, Section 2, stipulate that the villagers of Najd have a right to return home to their personal property and to their native village.

Posted by Kay Swen on 01/08/2009 @ 11:25PM PT
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Why is it that so many people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide seem incapable of accepting anything other than a simple narrative, that their side is completely right, and the other completely wrong?

Which is a rather simplistic way to view anything, let alone something as complicated as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As I wrote earlier, my sympathies aren't with the Israeli Government, or Hamas, both of whom seem content to continue their dance with the devil. My sympathies instead are with Palestinians caught in the hell that is Gaza. I also sympathize with Israelis living under threat of attack in southern Israel.

Anyone who can't see the common humanity in people anywhere who suffer - regardless of race, religion and all the rest - has lost a great deal.

Posted by Michael Bear on 01/08/2009 @ 11:39PM PT
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Michael, it's pointless to argue on this topic. Even generally level-headed, thoughtful people will refuse to see any nuances and jump to a good/evil narrative. If you say you sympathize with suffering Palestinian civilians, people will accuse you of being anti-Israel, or even anti-Semitic. If you criticize Hamas, you'll be accused of "taking the side of the oppressor." Thanks for the daily summaries of news from the crisis, though. They're much appreciated.

(For a depressing reminder of how otherwise civil bloggers and even academics completely lose it when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, see the responses to this post by Kevin Heller on Opinio Juris. http://opiniojuris.org/2009/01/03/why-i-avoid-blogging-about-israel/)

Posted by Transitionl... . on 01/09/2009 @ 07:21AM PT
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Transition Land -- thanks very much, and I completely agree. Also saw the Heller post; depressing doesn't even begin to cover it,

Best,

MBK

Posted by Michael Bear on 01/09/2009 @ 01:14PM PT
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I'm not sure who you're referring to when you say "so many people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide seem incapable of accepting anything other than a simple narrative..." Were you referring to me?

Blaming Hamas for the deaths of Palestinian civilians is a standard ploy by the Israeli propaganda department, which you have consistently reinforced. I guess you agree with Golda Meier that Palestinians force Israel to kill Palestinian children. By living in their homes Palestinian children are in the way of bullets, bombs or bulldozers I presume?

Another propaganda ploy is attributing certain evil-sounding beliefs or positions to a person, then condemning them for holding those beliefs which they haven't expressed or don't hold. Are you condemning me for only being able to accept a "simple-minded narrative?" What is this narrative? What is the complicated one I can't accept? If the simple one is true, or largely so, why should I accept a complicated but largely false one?

Posted by Kay Swen on 01/09/2009 @ 02:14PM PT
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Kay,

No attempt to be coy -- I was referring to you.

If you think I simply parrot Israeli propoganda, than I really don't know what to say. You're more than entitled to your opinions.

If you think that I'm blaming Palestinian children for being in the way of bullets, or bombs, or bulldozers, than I really don't think you've been reading the posts very clearly. In fact, you might want to look elsewhere for your news and updates.

Posted by Michael Bear on 01/09/2009 @ 02:58PM PT
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I don't look to you for news anyway, and yes, you are parroting Israeli propaganda. Nor did I say you were blaming Palestinian children for being in the way of Israeli bullets, bombs and bulldozers, but that Golda Meier was, if you align her statement to the facts of the case. I say it, because of the Zionist practice of shooting, bombing and bulldozing Palestinians alive, including their children, because they haven't always been eager to leave their homes and land when Israeli/Zionist forces ordered them too, and often before they were even given a chance. The Zionist propaganda department represented by Meier then says this forces Israel to kill Palestinian children, who, along with their parents, happen to be in the way of Israel taking over their land. What the statement boils down to is that the Zionists were "forced" somehow by Palestinians to kill Palestinian children in order for Israel to expel the non-Jews from their homes in what's now Israel. And now, I guess, Hamas is "forcing" or causing Israel to kill Palestinian children. That's what the Israeli propaganda department would like you to believe. That seems to be what you'd like us to believe.

I'm really sorry to see your credibility lost promoting Israeli propaganda and blaming the victim on this one because I think the other causes you promote are at least as worthy, even though the crimes aren't being committed by us so much, or maybe they are, I don't know.

Posted by Kay Swen on 01/09/2009 @ 09:44PM PT
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I do appreciate the backhanded compliment.

Now, seeing as how I very much doubt that this is going anywhere, beyond in circles, I'm going to bow out of this particular discussion.

MBK

Posted by Michael Bear on 01/10/2009 @ 06:37PM PT
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Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.