Imports of desperately needed building materials are still a fraction of pre-blockade levels and don't begin to meet Gaza's needs - report
LONDON (AlertNet) – Israel’s easing of its blockade of Gaza five months ago has done little to help the territory’s 1.5 million people, says a report by aid agencies and rights groups.
They called for renewed international pressure to ensure an immediate and complete removal of the blockade imposed in 2007 after the Islamist Hamas movement seized control of Gaza.
“Only a fraction of the aid needed has made it to the civilians trapped in Gaza by the blockade”, said Jeremy Hobbs, director of Oxfam International.
“Israel’s failure to live up to its commitments and the lack of international action to lift the blockade are depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to clean water, electricity, jobs and a peaceful future.”
Israel announced in June that it would allow imports of consumer goods and raw materials into Gaza, where four fifths of the population depends on aid.
But the report by a coalition of 22 development, human rights and peace organisations said imports of desperately needed building materials were still a fraction of pre-blockade levels and didn’t begin to meet Gaza’s needs.
Many of Gaza’s buildings were reduced to rubble when Israel launched a devastating three-week military assault on the territory in December 2008 to force Hamas to stop firing rockets into its southern towns.
The report Dashed Hopes: Continuation of the Gaza Blockade said Israel had so far approved building materials for just 7 percent of a U.N. reconstruction plan for Gaza. And only a fraction of these had actually entered Gaza.
Israel’s decision to ease the blockade followed international outcry over its attack in May on an aid flotilla heading for Gaza in which Israeli forces killed nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists.
It said it would accelerate imports into Gaza of construction materials for schools, health centres, houses and sewage plants. But it imposed a ban on some 3,000 items it feared Hamas could use for military purposes.
Restrictions on exports and the movement of Palestinians in and out of the territory also remained in place.
SCHOOLS
The report said the United Nations estimated Gaza needed 670,000 truckloads of construction materials for housing alone, but that an average of only 715 truckloads a month had entered the enclave since June.
The difficulty in getting construction materials into the territory meant 40,000 children could not be enrolled at U.N. schools at the start of the new academic year, it added.
The report also said there had been an increase in refusals of entry and exit for U.N. agencies’ local humanitarian staff since June despite Israel’s commitment to streamline the process.
"The so-called easing of the Gaza blockade does not change the fact that there’s still a cruel and illegal blockade collectively punishing the entire civilian population,” Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said.
“The only real easing has been the easing of pressure on the Israeli authorities to end this cruel and illegal practice."
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev said there was “a certain amount of politicisation” in the report.
“Anyone who looks at the objective data can see that the number of trucks has almost doubled in three months,” he added. “I’m not aware of any shortage of goods needed for the civilian population.”
He said Israel had authorised 60 building projects so far, but that all projects had to involve a third party and this had been agreed with the Palestinian Authority. If Israel allowed unlimited imports of building materials Hamas would use them for building bunkers, Regev said.
The report also said a ban on exports from the enclave meant two thirds of Gaza’s industrial businesses remained closed and the rest were operating at partial capacity. Gaza has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
Regev said it was wrong to say Israel banned all exports as Gaza exported agricultural produce.
The report came a day after U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he remained very concerned about conditions in Gaza.
“Israel needs to enable broader civilian reconstruction, free movement of persons and the export of goods, and to facilitate the swift implementation of projects,” Ban said in comments marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
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