More than half the population in the Gaza Strip is estimated to be “food insecure,” a term used by aid and development agencies to refer to households that often experience undernourishment and lack access to regular food supplies.
The closure of Karni will also add 20 percent to the cost of aid delivery, said Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, in Jerusalem. The UNRWA is currently facing a budget deficit of more than $50 million, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA’s, news service IRIN reported.
Some 750,000 Palestinians receive UNRWA food assistance in Gaza, out of about 1 million refugees living in the territory.
Karni, controlled by Israel, is the only commercial crossing with the facilities to allow large numbers of trucks to enter Gaza. Closed to truck traffic since June 2007, the conveyor belt had been operating to transfer grain until Israeli authorities announced its complete closure March 2.
Kerem Shalom, a smaller commercial crossing at the southernmost point on the Gaza-Israel border, lacks the facilities to allow large numbers of trucks to enter Gaza, according to OCHA. It is now the only point where humanitarian and commercial supplies can enter Gaza.
“Kerem Shalom crossing does not have the capacity to meet Gaza’s needs, and there must be more than one operational crossing to import humanitarian and commercial supplies for Gaza’s 1.5 million people,” UNRWA spokesman Gunness told IRIN. “Forcing humanitarian organizations through the bottleneck of Kerem Shalom will do little to relieve the humanitarian suffering of the people of Gaza.”
Source http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=aid-groups-fear-gaza-food-situation-after-crossing-closed-2011-03-09
