Dubai: Global aid agencies on Thursday said Israel was violating international law and delaying relief efforts as the Israeli army continued its attacks and world attempts to secure an end to the war remained deadlocked.
The main UN agency operating in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA, also halted its operations on Thursday after an Israeli attack on a relief convoy. The attack follows the Israeli assault on two UNRWA schools two days earlier, which left more than 45 Palestinians dead.
The death toll yesterday reached 725, including hundreds of children. More than 3,000 people have been wounded so far.
Meanwhile, the UAE and Bahrain called for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression and massacres and urged quick intervention by the international community and the UN to protect civilians.
The call was made at a meeting between His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa of Bahrain in Manama yesterday. The two leaders expressed their countries' support for the Palestinian people.
The crisis in Gaza is worsening by the hour, Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA told reporters yesterday. The 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip were in a "critical" situation. About one million people are without power and 750,000 are without water, although hospitals are still functioning on generators.
Gunness said food stocks were just enough for several days, not weeks, especially following the closure of the Karni crossing from Israel to Gaza, which is designated for bulk deliveries of food.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) joined the UNRWA in slamming Israeli atrocities.
An ICRC statement said its officials and Palestinian ambulance workers had found four starving children huddled with at least 12 corpses in Gaza in a house 80 metres from an Israeli military position. Among the dead in the house, found lying on mattresses, were the children's mothers, the ICRC said.
Access denied
In unusually strong terms, the neutral agency said it believed Israel had breached international humanitarian law by delaying ambulance access to the targeted area. Another report, published in London, said Israel is using white phosphorus shells in its attacks. "The use of WP against civilians is prohibited under international law," The Times newspaper noted, citing what it said was photographic evidence despite Israeli denials.
The report said Palestinian citizens had suffered burns caused by the weapons. Diplomats said the United States, Britain and France had presented a draft resolution to Arab foreign ministers calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The move comes after Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups based in Syria rejected a ceasefire proposed by Egypt and France on Wednesday. "Palestinian organisations, notably Hamas, see no valid basis in the Egyptian plan for a solution to the crisis" in Gaza, said Khalid Abdul Majid, spokesman for Palestinian groups based in Damascus.
-With inputs from agencies
