Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
Israeli-Egyptian Siege of Gaza Strip Intensifies, Palestinians Appeal to EU for Fuel Supplies

Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza has been closed from the Egyptian side most of the time since the June 30 military coup	Jamal Al-Khudari, MP, asked EU to supply Gaza with fuel

 

Khudari asks Ashton to supply Gaza with fuel

[ 08/09/2013 - 12:51 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Independent MP Jamal Al-Khudari has asked Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign commissioner, to supply the Gaza Strip’s sole power generation station with fuel.

He said in a statement on Sunday that urgent supplies were needed in order to avoid a humanitarian disaster that would affect vital sectors in the besieged enclave including health, environment, education, social, and infrastructure in the event of the probable shut down due to fuel shortage.

The MP, who is also heading the popular committee against siege, said that closure of the station would lead to the collapse of basic utilities in the Strip that have been already suffering as a result of the Israeli siege over the past seven years.

The EU was responsible for financing the fuel supplies to Gaza’s generation station as part of an aid package until November 2009 when the responsibility was shifted to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

Khudari said that the PA could not provide enough supplies, adding that the Gaza inhabitants were looking forward to an urgent EU response to alleviate their suffering.

Egypt's Rafah terminal closed again, one bus allowed in

[ 08/09/2013 - 11:53 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Egyptian authorities on Saturday closed the Rafah border crossing without prior notice and allowed only one bus into its territory.

Director of the crossings Maher Abu Sabha said the Egyptian side sent all buses back to Gaza and allowed only one to enter its territory at the pretext of the security events in the Sinai.

Abu Sabha added that the passengers who were allowed in stayed during the afternoon in a waiting hall on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian army demolished on Saturday five tunnels and one building in different areas of the Rafah border area, a Palestinian security official told the PIC.

The civilians in Gaza have been living for weeks in a very difficult situation because of the Egyptian demolition of most of the Rafah tunnels, which caused acute shortages of many vital needs, including fuel, medical and food supplies.

NGOs network: The Gaza people live in very difficult conditions

[ 08/09/2013 - 08:59 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The Palestinian NGOs network said that the Gaza Strip population live in very difficult humanitarian conditions as a result of the Israeli blockade, the destruction of tunnels and the closure of crossings.

In a press release on Saturday, director of the network Amjad Al-Shawwa condemned the absence of serious international action to end the blockade on Gaza despite all human rights reports that had talked about its deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Shawwa noted that several international reports had stated that about 57 percent of the Gazan families suffer from food insecurity.

He warned that the power station would stop to operate any day as a result of the fuel crisis and consequently, all service sectors, especially the hospitals, would suffer considerably.

He also pointed out to the international report indicating that more than 95 percent of Gaza water is unfit for human consumption, not to mention its acute scarcity.

"All these indicators and more necessitate real action at all Arab and international levels to pressure the Zionist enemy to open all crossings before the movement of personnel and goods in both directions," the head of the NGOs network underlined.