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UN halts Gaza aid over 'thefts

The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all relief shipments after hundreds of tonnes worth of food aid were seized by the Hamas government. Ten truckloads of flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN's Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said.

Unrwa said it would not restart aid until it had assurances from Hamas that such thefts would not be repeated.
Gaza is facing a humanitarian crisis after Israel's three-week offensive.
About half the population is dependent on UN food aid. The UN said it had increased its food distribution in recent weeks to cover 900,000 of Gaza's population of 1.5 million.
Israel intensified a blockade on the territory 19 months ago when Hamas took over the territory.

Second incident
Unrwa said the trucks of food had been imported from Egypt, and were due to be collected by its staff at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday.
"The food was taken away by trucks contracted by the Ministry of Social Affairs," the agency said in a statement.
It was the second incident in three days. On Tuesday, 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels were seized at gunpoint from a distribution centre in Gaza, the UN said.

The suspension "will remain in effect until the aid is returned and the Agency is given credible assurances from the Hamas government in Gaza that there will be no repeat of these thefts", a statement said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7875171.stm

Those Hamas animals are now responsible for further delays in getting humanitarian aid to the population.

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[Sayed Zakerya]

Those Hamas animals are now responsible for further delays in getting humanitarian aid to the population.

Hamas declared that what happened was a mistake as ts employees thaught that these should be delieverd to their stores instead of the UNRWA. They promised to deliever the same to UN stores.
It is to be noted that when Hamas collects UNRWA supplies you call them animals, but when IDF assassinate 40 Paestinians in a refugee school & 3 girls in their appartment you call it a tragedy.

[sploop!]

I guess that with the recent bombing of Palestinian civilians and Hamas alike, things are pretty chaotic in Gaza at the moment, which, let's face it, was the aim of the Israelis all along.

It shouldn't really surprise anyone that things occasionally go awry. I don't know exactly what has happened here, but in fairness the OP should perhaps point out that it could be an administrative error of some sort with no intention to divert the aid from its rightful recipients intended, or a rogue group operating without clear instruction from depleted Hamas command and control systems, or indeed, as suggested (predictably) it could be an example of theft.

Hopefully more news later on will clear this up.