UN appeal on Gaza: Access for aid just as crucial as funding

OXFORD, UK — As the UN is launching an appeal for funding to Gaza in Geneva today, aid agency Oxfam International insists that access of goods to the Strip is as important as fundraising. Without further delay, Israel must allow for all existing crossings to function at maximum capacity, Oxfam said.

Oxfam estimates that Israel is denying Gaza more than 50 percent of its normal minimum daily requirements, despite the increased needs after three weeks of heavy bombardment and conflict with Palestinian armed groups in the Strip.*

Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said, "The Israeli authorities are drip feeding 1.5 million people when vital supplies are urgently needed. Humanitarian access to Gaza must be improved and guaranteed. Using Kerem Shalom crossing, too far to the south of where most of the needs are, is inadequate, inefficient, and wasteful of aid resources. Nothing less than a 24-hour/-7-day-a-week opening of all crossings is what’s needed today."

Hobbs went on to say, "On top of blocking key access points, Israeli authorities have been denying entry for items such as dates and macaroni. This is unacceptable."

Along with daily needs and humanitarian assistance, Gaza needs to bring in goods for reconstruction. There is a tremendous shortage of building materials and spare parts for repair of houses, water, and sewage and electrical facilities. For example, Gaza is in dire need of cement, since the cement-processing factories were destroyed by Israeli air attacks.

Oxfam also said that money alone will not solve the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Political will and long-term investment by the international community to tackle the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are also urgently needed.

"It's not enough for donor countries to reach for their checkbooks. They must also press Israel to open up the border crossings and make sure their aid money is being used effectively. The people of Gaza cannot indefinitely continue to be dependent on external aid," Jeremy Hobbs concluded.

* The figure is based on the number of trucks for humanitarian purposes coming into Gaza before the start of the Israeli blockade in June 2007, when 1,320 trucks a week were allowed in. Israel told the humanitarian community last week it will only admit a maximum of 90 trucks with humanitarian goods a day (not on Friday afternoons and Saturdays) to pass through Kerem Shalom, the only crossing that is now open to trucks. The Karni crossing to the north has the capacity to import 750 truckloads a day but has been closed to trucks since June 15, 2007.