/ 7 February 2009

UN awaits return of Gaza aid

The United Nations was on Saturday awaiting the promised return of hundreds of tonnes of food aid for Gaza that was "mistakenly" seized by Hamas.

The United Nations was on Saturday awaiting the promised return of hundreds of tonnes of food aid for Gaza that was “mistakenly” seized by Hamas, as the Islamist movement insisted the crisis is over.

But UNRWA, the main agency for Palestinian refugees, insisted the incident will not be considered “over” until all 200 tonnes of rice and flour have been returned and Hamas has guaranteed such a situation will not be repeated.

In the wake of the incident, the UN agency suspended all imports of aid into Gaza.

At a meeting late on Friday, Gaza’s Health Minister, Bassem Naim, assured UNWRA chief Karen Abu Zayd that such a situation would not occur again, Hamas spokesperson Taher al-Nunu told AFP on Saturday.

“He promised there would not be any more incidents like that,” Nunu said. “The crisis is over.”

Despite Naim’s assurances, UNRWA said the aid had still not been returned by Saturday afternoon, although the agency “had been told it would receive all the goods later in the day,” a Gaza-based spokesperson said.

The foodstuffs, which were loaded on to 10 lorries, were seized on Thursday from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in south Gaza in the second such incident within three days — prompting a sharp rebuke from UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

Hamas promptly said it would return the goods, saying the incident had been “a mistake” caused by confusion at the border crossing. — AFP