UN halts Gaza aid shipments after Israeli attacks on its staff

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UN halts Gaza aid shipments after Israeli attacks on its staff

1 hour, 21 minutes ago

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The United Nations halted deliveries to the

Gaza Strip on Thursday after gunfire from an Israeli tank killed an

aid truck driver, and the threat of a wider conflict arose when

fighters in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel.

Israel responded with mortar shells.

During a three-hour pause in the fighting to allow in food and fuel

and let medics collect the dead, nearly three dozen bodies were found

beneath the rubble of bombed out buildings in Gaza City.

Many of the dead were in the same Zeitoun neighbourhood where the

international Red Cross said rescue workers discovered young children

too weak to stand who had stayed by their dead mothers.

Relations between Israel and humanitarian organizations have grown

increasingly tense as civilian casualties have mounted.

The UN demanded an investigation after Israel fired shells at a

target next to a UN school filled with Gazans seeking refuge from

fighting that has left nearly 750 Palestinians dead, according to

Palestinian hospital officials and human rights workers.

Israel claimed Hamas fighters had launched an attack from the area,

and then ran into a crowd of civilians for cover. Nearly 40

Palestinians died in the Israeli attack.

" We've been co-ordinating with them (Israeli forces) and yet our

staff continue to be hit and killed, " said a UN spokesman, Chris

Gunness, announcing the suspension.

Eleven Israelis have died since the beginning of the Gaza offensive

Dec. 27. But with roughly half the Palestinian dead believed to be

civilians, international efforts to broker a ceasefire have been

gaining steam.

Israeli envoys travelled to Egypt on Thursday to discuss the proposal

being brokered by France and Egypt and now backed by the United

States.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said any time lost will play into

the hands of those who want war.

" The weapons must go quiet, the escalation must stop, Israel must

obtain security guarantees and leave Gaza, " he said in Paris.

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.

Elena Mancusi Materi, UNRWA's spokeswoman in Geneva, said the

suspension concerned all truck movement in Gaza.

" If someone comes to one of our food distribution centres, we will

give that person food. If people come to our clinics with injuries,

we will treat them. "

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 fire from a gunner on an Israeli tank, killing the

driver.

The UN said the vehicle was marked with a UN flag and insignia when

it was shot in northern Gaza. The Israeli army said it was

investigating.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Palestinian Health Ministry said 35

bodies were discovered Thursday during the three-hour pause in

fighting in several areas around Gaza City that have seen fierce

fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters.

He said it was unclear how many fighters were killed because the

remains were in poor condition, but that women and children were

among the dead. Hassanain said 746 Palestinians have died in Israel's

13-day offensive.

The rockets from Lebanon raised the spectre of renewed hostilities on

Israel's northern frontier, just 2 1/2 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 Palestinians

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.

The Israeli offensive has reduced Palestinian rocket fire, but not

stopped it altogether. Several barrages were reported Thursday,

including one strike that damaged a school and sports centre in the

southern city of Ashkelon, police said. Both buildings were empty.

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 unless it

includes an end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza - something Israel

says it is not willing to do. Israel has maintained a stiff economic

embargo on Gaza since the Hamas takeover, sparking the rocket

attacks.

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.