90 Trucks of Humanitarian Aid Allowed into Gaza Today

Friday December 26, 2008 17:41 by Justin Theriault - IMEMC News

On Friday, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, allowed 90 trucks of international humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip, despite military preparations for a full scale military campaign against Gaza resistance groups.

The Israeli Army reported that the first of the 90 trucks had arrived into the impoverished Gaza Strip and began to unload supplies, which consisted of much needed medicine, cooking gas, fuel and other vital items.  Among the aid included a large donation from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's wife.

Cabinet Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, in an interview with Israeli radio said, "we are sending [the residents of Gaza] a message that the Hamas leadership has turned them into a punching bag for everyone.”  He also stated that, "It is a leadership that has turned school yards in rocket launching pads. This is a leadership that does not care that the blood of its people will run in the streets," in an attempt to put the responsibility for the siege on Gaza soley on Hamas.

Member of the Knesset, Arieh Eldad slammed Barak’s move to open up Gaza border crossing for the transfer of humanitarian aid.  Eldad stated that Barak should immediately undergo trial for “aiding the enemy during wartime.”

Because of Israel’s incessant blocking of humanitarian aid ever since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June of 2007, Gaza has slowly fallen into one the worst humanitarian crises that exist anywhere in the world today. According to the Palestinian Independent Commission on Human Rights “80% of the population [in Gaza] are living on less than two dollars a day, unemployment hovers at 60% and just 195 factories remain open out of 3900 in 2005.”

While Israel is repeatedly putting the responsibility of the crisis in Gaza on the shoulders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Gaza resistance groups, it is in fact Israel that is responsible for the transfer of all international humanitarian aid into Gaza, and, as the occupying force, has a responsibility under international humanitarian law to ensure the health and sanitary conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

gaza strip | human rights | news report theriault.justin at gmail dot com