UN workers killed in Gaza, most operations suspended

[maddezmom]

GAZA, June 13 (Reuters) - Two Palestinian employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were shot dead in the Gaza Strip and the agency said on Wednesday it was suspending most of its operations due to the internal fighting.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said one of the employees was shot in the abdomen on Tuesday and died on Wednesday. The other employee was shot in the head on Wednesday.

Gunness said they are the first U.N. employees killed in Gaza since internal fighting erupted between Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction last year.

Gunness said they appeared to have been caught in the crossfire and not targeted because of their work for the U.N. agency, which provides services to Palestinian refugees.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L110983823.htm

[Eugene]

1. EU suspends Gaza aid due to "suicidal" fighting

Source: Reuters

EU suspends Gaza aid due to "suicidal" fighting
14 Jun 2007 11:56:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - The European Commission
has suspended humanitarian aid to Gaza because of "suicidal"
fighting among Palestinian factions and will only resume it
if violence stops, the EU's top aid official said on Thursday.

"The humanitarian situation is catastrophic, we have had to
withdraw our (aid) operators," European Aid and Development
Commissioner Louis Michel told Reuters. "It's dramatic and
it's unacceptable."

"The belligerents must understand that this is suicidal," he
said of the fighting between the Islamist Hamas movement
and the Fatah party for control of the Gaza Strip.

-snip-

Asked what it would take for the European Commission aid
staff to go back to Gaza, Michel said: "Security."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14287044.htm

[Eugene]

2. OPT: Aid agencies back to work in the Gaza Strip

Source: IRIN News

OPT: Aid agencies back to work in the Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM, 17 June 2007 (IRIN) - UN agencies and many
humanitarian organisations resumed full operations in the
Gaza Strip on 17 June after internecine violence last week
brought their activities to a standstill. Food is available
but, with border crossings closed, is running low, power is
limited and hospitals remain overcrowded with supplies low.

"There was a brief and temporary suspension of aid, but I
am very pleased to say, that following an assessment of the
situation, UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees)
has resumed all its services," said John Ging, UNRWA's Gaza
chief.

Ging said his organisation had food supplies in its Gaza
warehouses that could last for 10 days. However, border
crossings into the Strip remained closed, affecting supplies
of perishable items such as milk.

"The next challenge is to get aid into Gaza. The crossings
must open," Ging said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72773

[maddezmom]

3. INTERVIEW-UN warns Gaza poverty may breed more violence

INTERVIEW-UN warns Gaza poverty may breed more violence
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, June 17 (Reuters) - A senior United Nations official in the Gaza Strip said on Sunday that difficult living conditions there may worsen and could lead to more violence.

"I think the situation is very grave," said John Ging, head of operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which provides humanitarian services to most of the strip's 1.5 million Palestinians.

"In misery and poverty you find the seeds of violence," Ging told Reuters in an interview.

The Islamist Hamas faction seized control of Gaza after fierce fighting last week with the rival Fatah group of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The United States, Israel and some European states plan to quickly lift a ban on direct aid to a new Palestinian government sworn in by Abbas on Sunday in place of a Hamas-led unity government, but it is unclear how much money may flow to Gaza.

Israel, which controls Gaza's borders, hopes to isolate the territory after the Hamas takeover. It stopped most fuel supplies on Sunday, putting hospitals and business on hold.

"What I am hoping now is that everybody who is making decisions would focus on the living conditions of people in Gaza ... because really they have suffered enough," Ging said.

more:http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B601133.htm