UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said on Tuesday (US time)
he is heading to Gaza. A top priority will be to get all
border crossings opened, he said, not only for food and
medicine but for desperately needed construction materials
which Israel has refused to allow in since Hamas seized power
in June 2007.
He said "it's absolutely critical" that cement, pipes and
other building materials are "unbanned" by Israel and allowed
into Gaza to start rebuilding the war-ravaged Palestinian
territory.
"Otherwise, the reconstruction effort won't get off first
base," Holmes said.
Holmes, who expects to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, told a
news conference he will also be pressing Israeli authorities
to allow humanitarian staff from international organisations
into Gaza.
"In theory, they have permission," he said.
"In practice, it's proving very difficult to get into Gaza."
Holmes said Monday that hundreds of millions of dollars in
humanitarian aid will be needed immediately to help Gaza's
1.4 million people and billions of dollars will be required
to rebuild its shattered buildings and infrastructure.
Israel launched the war on December 27 in an effort to halt
years of militant rocket fire by Hamas on its southern
communities and arms smuggling into Gaza. The Israeli
government declared a cease-fire that went into effect early
on Sunday, and hours later, Hamas agreed to silence its guns,
too. Israel had withdrawn the bulk of its forces from Gaza by
Tuesday evening, ahead of the inauguration of US President
Barack Obama, but the temporary cease-fire remained shaky.
Holmes said on Tuesday the UN is "trying to ramp up the
humanitarian efforts in Gaza," and while some trucks and fuel
are getting into Gaza, the number remains small and "very
inadequate" compared to the number of trucks allowed in
before Hamas seized power.
"We need more food, wheat grain in particular both for the
humanitarian food distribution and for local bakeries,"
Holmes said.
Gaza also needs continuing supplies of fuel for its power
plant, for hospital generators and for bakeries to bake
bread, he said.
Holmes said a lasting and durable cease-fire and the
reopening of all border crossings are essential to get
humanitarian aid, commercial goods and construction materials
into Gaza.
The temporary cease-fire doesn't include an agreement on the
opening of border crossings, he noted.
"There's a lot of talk about it but it doesn't exist yet. So
that's one of the points I'm very keen to pursue when I go
there myself later this week," Holmes said.
Under an Egyptian-French initiative being discussed, the
temporary cease-fire would be followed by separate talks with
Israel and Hamas on a permanent cease-fire in which weapons
smuggling routes into Gaza would shut down with international
help. Discussions on opening Gaza's blockaded border
crossings would take place at a later date.
Holmes said construction materials "were effectively to
virtually 100 percent banned from entering into Gaza since
the Hamas takeover in 2007, which meant even before these
hostilities a lot of humanitarian projects which had been
planned were not able to be completed."
He cited the repair of Gaza's sewage system, which was
further damaged in the latest conflict, as an example.
"So it's absolutely critical that these kind of materials now
be allowed into Gaza on a regular ... basis ... without too
much bureaucracy," Holmes said.
"That is something we need to pursue with the Israeli
authorities to make sure they are doing that, and that's one
of the things we'll be pursuing."
John Ging, head of Gaza operations for the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency which helps Palestinian refugees,
said that when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the
seriously damaged UNRWA office in Gaza City on Tuesday,
representatives of Gaza civic organisations told him the
cycle of violence in the territory must end, "even in terms
of building."
They want to make sure that "what is built now will remain
standing because many of the buildings that have been
destroyed - the ministry buildings, other vital
infrastructure here - they were built with international
money in the last 15 years, and now they're piles of rubble,"
he said.
"What a waste of money," Ging said.
"We unfortunately now have to put money back into building
that should be going into further development."
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