MID: UN suspends aid deliveries to Gaza, citing attacks
By Ibrahim Barzak And Steve Weizman09 Jan 2009 3:22 AM
GAZA CITY, Jan 8 Agencies - The United Nations halted aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, citing Israeli attacks on its staff and installations hours after it said gunfire from an Israeli tank killed one of its drivers as he was picking up a shipment.
The United Nations has already demanded an investigation into Israel's shelling of a UN school in Gaza that killed 43 people earlier this week. Israel and residents said militants were operating in the area at the time.
For a second straight day, Israel suspended its Gaza military operation for three hours to allow in humanitarian supplies. Shortly before the pause took effect, however, the UN said one of its aid trucks came under Israeli fire, killing the driver.
UN spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said the UN coordinated the delivery with Israel and the vehicle was marked with a UN flag and insignia when it was shot in northern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was investigating.
"The UN is suspending its aid operations in Gaza until we can get safety and security guarantees for our staff," spokesman Chris Gunness said. "We've been coordinating with them (Israeli forces) and yet our staff continue to be hit and killed."
The UN provides food aid to around 750,000 Gaza residents and runs dozens of schools and clinics throughout the territory. They have some 9,000 locally employed staffers inside Gaza, and a small team of international staffers who work there.
Israel launched the offensive on December 27 in a bid to halt years of Palestinian rocket attacks on its southern towns. Palestinian hospital officials and human rights workers say more than 700 people have been killed, roughly half of them civilians.
As Israel pushed forward with the bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip, militants in Lebanon fired at least three rockets into Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state. Israel responded with mortar shells.
The rockets from Lebanon raised the spectre of renewed hostilities on Israel's northern frontier, just two-and-a-half years after Israel battled the Hezbollah guerrilla group to a 34-day stalemate. War broke out between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 as Israel battled Palestinian militants in Gaza, on Israel's southern borders.
No group claimed responsibility. Lebanon's government condemned the attack, and Hezbollah - which now plays an integral role in Lebanon's government - denied any responsibility for the rocket fire, which lightly injured two Israelis who were hurt when a projectile crashed into a nursing home.
In other Gaza violence, Israel killed at least 12 people, including the UN driver and three people who were fleeing their homes, according to Palestinian medical officials.
The death toll from Israel's war on Hamas rose to 763 on Thursday after new raids and dozens of bodies were found during a suspension in Israel's bombing, medics said.
About 20 people, among them many women and children, were killed in new raids by the Israeli military on Thursday, said Mouawiya Hassanein, head of Gaza's emergency services.
Rescuers also found many bodies in debris while searching during a three hour suspension in hostilities across Gaza between 1100 GMT and 1400 GMT (2200 AEDT to 0200 AEDT), he said.
Eleven Israelis have died since the offensive began.
With the civilian death toll rising, international efforts to broker a ceasefire have been gaining steam.
New strides appeared to be made on the diplomatic front with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying the US supported a deal being brokered by France and Egypt.
While the UN Security Council failed to reach agreement on a ceasefire resolution, Egypt's UN Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz said representatives of Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority agreed to meet separately with Egyptian officials in Cairo.
Israeli envoys travelled to Egypt on Thursday to discuss the proposal.
For Israel to accept a proposed ceasefire deal, "there has to be a total and complete cessation of all hostile fire from Gaza into Israel, and ... we have to see an arms embargo on Hamas that will receive international support," said government spokesman Mark Regev.
For its part, Hamas said it would not accept a truce deal unless it includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza - something Israel says it is not willing to do. Israel and Egypt have maintained a stiff economic embargo on Gaza since the Hamas takeover.
The Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza - two territories on opposite sides of Israel that are supposed to make up a future Palestinian state. Hamas took control of Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007.
