Tracking - Gaza Blockade, Aid Worker Shot in Somalia | War and Peace

Tracking - Gaza Blockade, Aid Worker Shot in Somalia

Published November 17, 2008 @ 10:44AM PT

[People in Gaza dependent on aid - Footage from Al Jazeera]

Gaza Blockade:

This morning Israel allowed thirty trucks carrying humanitarian supplies to enter Gaza. Of these, at least eight held supplies for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

This is the first humantiarian shipment allowed through the border since November 4th.

The blockade had greatly complicated humanitarian efforts in Gaza - UN warehouses ran empty last week, causing the suspension of food distributions to 750,000 people.

According to one UN spokesman, humanitarian goods from this morning's convoy "will last a matter of days. But then what?"

Israeli officials have said that future aid shipments are contingent on Hamas ceasing its rocket and mortar attacks. For an analysis of the Israeli and Palestinian politics behind the recent fighting, see here.

Aid Worker Shot in Somalia:

Reuters reports that "a Somali aid worker was also critically injured when gunmen shot him in the head in Merka, a port city captured by the rebels Wednesday."

So far this year, thirty three aid workers have been killed in Somalia.

Meanwhile, Somali insurgents continued to gain ground, capturing the port of Barawe over the weekend. As mentioned above, this comes days after the insurgents took Merka, one of the main ports of entry for humanitarian supplies.

As Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf warned over the weekend, the Transitional Federal Government is "on the verge of total collapse."

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Author

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.