UN chief highlights Gaza aid importance
Friday, 01 Sep 2006 12:50
The UN says that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening
The UN's emergency relief coordinator has said the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza is turning into a "time-bomb".
Jan Egeland was speaking ahead of a conference of countries and international aid agencies in Stockholm, Sweden, where he is expected to call on the international community to not neglect the plight of Palestinians.
Today's conference is aiming to raise about $500 million (£263 million) in order to continue the restoration in southern Lebanon, but Mr Egeland is aiming to secure aid for Gaza as well.
The Israeli army has maintained heightened operations in the region since militants kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit earlier this summer, with the UN humanitarian chief saying this was aggravating the problem further.
"You cannot seal off an area, which is a little bigger than the city of Stockholm, has 1.4 million people, of whom 800,000 are youth and children, and then have 200 artillery shells go in there virtually every day, seal off the borders so that it is very hard for them to send anything out, crippling the economy, for people to live or even humanitarian supplies to get in," he told reporters.
Mr Egeland warned the social structure in Gaza could collapse in either "ten days or ten months", dubbing the humanitarian situation a "time-bomb" and an "untenable situation".
"So we need more money but we need also a political solution to this war. I've never seen so much hatred and bitterness as during my last visit there, the humanitarian situation is critical," he added.
Humanitarian aid to Gaza has effectively been halted ever since Hamas won election to the Palestinian authority, with the group classed as a terrorist organisation by the west.