GAZA- Trapped by Violence
25 March- 18 June 2009: In a joint statement issued on 17 June, close to 40 humanitarian organizations, NGOs and UN agencies expressed their deepening concern over Israel’s continued blockade of the Gaza Strip, which the statement says, has now been in force for two years and is affecting the entire 1.5 million population of Gaza. The statement further says that the amount of goods allowed into Gaza under the blockade is one quarter of the pre-blockade flow.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, had dealt a blow to the Palestinian economy after it flattened the industrial zone, said Maxwell Gaylard, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who spoke at a Headquarters press conference
On 28 May. Businesses that once flourished in the Gaza Strip, from the garment and furniture industry or light construction, had moved to Egypt and beyond. Also because of the tightened border controls, around 100,000 Palestinian workers who used to travel to work on Israeli farms no longer did so today.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was briefed on 20 May by the head of the independent team of investigators tasked by the United Nations Human Rights Council with examining alleged rights abuses and violations of international law during the recent Gaza conflict, reports the United Nations News Center. During the meeting with Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa that took place in Geneva, Mr. Ban reiterated his support to the work of the mission and said he hoped the mission’s work would proceed smoothly with cooperation by the concerned parties.
On 6 April, The level of access for humanitarian assistance to Gaza was still “wholly and totally inadequate”, according to John Ging, Director of Operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugee in the Near East (UNRWA) during a press conference on April 3 at UN Headquarters.
“We need access; it’s the number one issue, it’s the number two issue, it’s the number three issue,” said John Ging at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon. “Until and unless we can get humanitarian assistance in, in an unfettered way, we can’t even begin recovery and reconstruction.”
“Two months since unilateral ceasefires were declared in Gaza, we face a worrying situation of impasse and uncertainty,” said Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe in his briefing on 25 March to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. Pascoe emphasized the necessity to establish a proper cease-fire regime in Gaza, provide unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance, open crossings, prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunitions and achieve intra-Palestinian reconciliation.
Pascoe added that the United Nations Board of Inquiry into casualties and damage at UN facilities, initiated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 13 February had returned from the region and is now working on its report which will be submitted to the Secretary-General in early April.
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