UN Aid for Gaza Stolen by... Hamas.

[Coyote]

Those eeeevil Zionists! --Hamasniks!

According to this Huffpo Post the UN has decided that aid will be suspended until Hamas quits stealing the aid supplies being sent to help ordinary Gazans.

The UN Relief and and Works agency announced today that is is suspending shipments of aid to Gaza. Citing interference from the militant Hamas organization, the agency made its decision following the second intercepted shipment this week.

Yedioth Ahronot newspaper describes the most recent seizure of aid by Hamas:

According to the agency's press release the recent looting involved hundreds of tons of food. "During the night of February fifth 10 truckloads of flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Gaza," the statement from spokesman Christopher Gunness said.

He said the food "had been imported from Egypt for collection by UNRWA today," but was "taken away by trucks contracted by the Ministry of Social Affairs." The ministry is run by Hamas.

According to The Telegraph aid will be reinstated once the UN is certain it lands in the right hands:

The UN said that all deliveries would stop "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".

CNN explains the UN agency's protocol and how the Hamas interception was discovered:

"UNRWA has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," the agency said Tuesday. "Our officials were on the ground overseeing the delivery of our aid and taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."

AP reports on Hamas' response to the UNRWA decision:
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called UNRWA's decision "unjustified."

He said Hamas supports UNRWA's work but believes the agency gives some of its aid to groups attached to Hamas' rivals.

He urged UNRWA "to put an end to using aid for political means, and to distribute it to all the needy equally."

Of course, the next time we see a picture of a hungry Gazan, Hamas will say it is all Israel's fault.

[Kanastrous]

And of course outfits like Democracy Now etc have managed to somehow miss this story entirely...

[Ziggy Stardust]

Does anybody else sometimes get the impression that Israel and Hamas are deliberately trying to outdo each other in jackassery? It seems that every time a news item comes to light that shows one of them did something real bad, not long thereafter another comes up showing the other one did something just as bad.

[Guardsman Bass]

That's no surprise - they've done this before, if I recall correctly. They steal the aid and either sell it, or they give it out themselves for PR points with the Gazans.

[Sea Skimmer]

That's no surprise - they've done this before, if I recall correctly. They steal the aid and either sell it, or they give it out themselves for PR points with the Gazans.

Hamas has stolen aid before, but its never been as blatant as it has been in the past week, and the UN never called them on it either, they’d just say it was stolen by ‘unknown militants’

[Posner]

It's certainly nothing new, to Gaza or anywhere else in the world. Seize the aid and make sure your friends get theirs first and when you give it to everyone else you can claim credit for it.

[Aratech]

That's no surprise - they've done this before, if I recall correctly. They steal the aid and either sell it, or they give it out themselves for PR points with the Gazans.

Hamas has stolen aid before, but its never been as blatant as it has been in the past week, and the UN never called them on it either, they’d just say it was stolen by ‘unknown militants’

*sigh*

Seriously, you cannot make this kind of shit up. This is like something out of one of those hack spy/war novels that involve mustache twirling villains.

[Count Chocula]

And this comes on top of the UN admitting that the Israelis did NOT shell a UN hospital, but rather targeted some Hamas assholes near the hospital, with no damage or injuries to the hospital itself.

What's that I hear? Is that the UN backpedaling...once the story du jour is out of the AP/CNN limelight? What a surprise. I'm shocked.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I think in general, the war between Israel and the various anti-Israel groups has reached a point where negotiation is no longer possible and it is now an "all or nothing" game. Hamas is merely resorting to any means to sustain itself. The UN and what not be damned.

[MKSheppard]

You'll have NOTHIGN and like it!

UNRWA suspends aid to Gaza after Hamas again seizes supplies

Feb. 6, 2009
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST
UNRWA informed the IDF on Friday it is suspending humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after Hamas stole supplies it had transferred to the Palestinian territory.

The seizure of 200 tons of supplies, included flour and other staples, took place on Thursday night. In response, UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) officials informed the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration that it was suspending the deliveries until further notice.

The transfer of 40 truckloads of humanitarian supplies - some 800 tons - planned for Sunday has already been canceled.

Officials in Jerusalem said the announcement by UNRWA constituted UN agreement with Israel's position that Hamas was using the Palestinian population in Gaza "cruelly and cynically" and was solely responsible for the hardships there.

Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, who was appointed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the end of Operation Cast Lead to coordinate Israel's humanitarian efforts in Gaza, said that theft of humanitarian aid exposed the true face of Hamas and of its supporters in Iran.

It was the second time this past week that Hamas stole UN supplies meant for impoverished Gazans.

The first incident took place on Tuesday evening, when armed Hamas police broke into a Gaza warehouse packed with UN humanitarian supplies and seized thousands of blankets and food packages.

The seizure took place after UNRWA staff earlier refused to hand over the supplies to the Hamas-run Social Affairs Ministry.

"We received a phone call this morning from UNRWA officials that they have decided to suspend their deliveries after Hamas stole supplies from one of the organization's warehouses in the Gaza Strip," explained a senior official.

The official said the IDF noticed the trend during Operation Cast Lead last month when, despite the fighting, Israel transferred close to 80 trucks a day to the Strip.

Nuaf Atar, a Fatah operative captured during the operation, told the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) that Hamas government officials "took over" humanitarian aid Israel allowed in and sold it when it was supposed to be distributed for free.

UNRWA spokesman Sami Mshasha confirmed that the organization had suspended its deliveries to Gaza after Hamas stole its supplies.

"This is the second incident this week and this is a point of great concern for us and sets a bad precedent. If we are to provide services to people in Gaza after such an ordeal, we need assurances that our work will be unimpeded," Mshasha said. "We cannot subjugate our work to the Social Affairs Ministry in Gaza."

[Elfdart]

LINK

Hamas returns seized Gaza aid: UN

1 day ago

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Islamist Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have returned aid supplies they seized last week, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said in a statement on Monday.

"The Hamas authorities in Gaza have returned to the UNRWA warehouses in Gaza City and Rafah all of the aid supplies confiscated on 03 and 05 February," it said.

"UNRWA will now lift the suspension on the import of its humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which went into effect on 05 February."

It said earlier that Hamas last week seized 200 tonnes of rice and flour brought into Gaza by UNWRA, and in a separate incident grabbed 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels at gunpoint from a distribution store at a Gaza City refugee camp.

Hamas said over the weekend the supplies had been seized "by mistake."

UNRWA plays a key role in distributing aid in Gaza and says it currently hands out food assistance to some 900,000 people out of a population of 1.5 million.

Humanitarian workers say the aid is crucial as the population struggles with the aftermath of Israel's crushing military assault on the impoverished Palestinian enclave which left more than 1,300 dead and razed over 14,000 homes.

It was a "mistake" alright: stealing from one the few friends you have in the world is a BIG "mistake".