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Aid trucks stranded at Egypt's Gaza border
More than two dozen trucks loaded with food, aid and goods intended for the Gaza Strip were stranded on the Egyptian side of the border Thursday, leaving truckers with little to do but sip tea and exude frustration. The backlog raises questions about whether a new U.N. appeal for $613 million to help Palestinians recover from Israel's three-week offensive in Gaza will do much good without a deal to open the devastated territory's borders.
The backlog isn't the only question ...
"The ordinary people here in Gaza are not getting enough help and are not getting it quickly enough," said John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza.

He blamed the aid shortage on the lack of access to Gaza and demanded that the border crossings be opened. "There are thousands of tons of assistance generously donated, sitting in Egypt, Jordan and also in the ports in Israel," said Ging. "That aid should be right here, right now, helping the people who need it."
Hamas seems to be rearming without your help ...
Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog told The Associated Press this week that Israel was letting in the maximum amount of aid that the Palestinians in Gaza can absorb -- about 150 trucks per day.

Israel closed its crossings Tuesday after a bomb attack on the Gaza-Israel border killed an Israeli soldier. The Israeli military said the border was later reopened, and 174 trucks were let through on Wednesday and 149 on Thursday.

But the U.N. Relief and Works Agency said aid shipments are hitting bottlenecks on Gaza's borders with both Israel and Egypt. The agency is expected to take the lead in Gaza's reconstruction.

Egyptian officials have not explained why trucks have had trouble entering Gaza through the country's Rafah border crossing. "We don't know why, but it is closed," said an Egyptian border official Thursday.
Posted by: Fred 2009-01-30
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=261144