[news] UN relief agency suspending food aid in Gaza

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http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/411471.html

Haaretz     1/04/2004
		
UN relief agency says suspending food aid in Gaza
	
By DPA	
	
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)
announced Thursday it stopped distributing emergency food aid to some
600,000 refugees in the Gaza Strip.	

UNRWA said in a statement that the suspension followed restrictions
introduced by Israel on the sole commercial crossing into Gaza through which
it is able to bring in humanitarian assistance.

The agency said it had now completely run out of stocks of rice, flour,
cooking oil and other essential products.

"Under normal circumstances, UNRWA delivers some 250 tons of food aid per
day in Gaza alone as part of a wider program of emergency assistance to
refugees, initiated shortly after the outbreak of strife in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip in September 2000," the statement said.

Almost two out of three households in Gaza live below the poverty line and
more than half its workforce is unemployed.

UNRWA said it urged Israel to loosen its restrictions in Gaza in a joint
statement with other UN agencies on March, but thus far without success.