By Xinhua
Ramallah : A Palestinian group, lobbying against Gaza siege, on Sunday urged the visiting UN chief humanitarian official John Holmes to build pressure on Israel to reopen crossing points into the coastal Gaza Strip.
In a message sent to Holmes, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs of the Popular Committee against Siege said the blockade “destroyed everything and was not mercy with anything.”
Alongside the closure, the reduction of the electricity that Israel sends to Gaza had “largely paralyzed the life and affected on patients, health facilities and industrial sectors.”
Israel imposed restrictions on exports, imports and individuals’ movement in and out of Gaza when Hamas won parliamentary elections and formed a government in 2006.
In June 2007, Israel completely sealed off crossing points into the Gaza Strip after Hamas ousted security forces loyal to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, allowing very slow entry of basic food and medicine stuff.
On Saturday, Holmes toured the West Bank where Abbas’ Fatah movement rules and was shocked by the Israeli measures in the area. He said he had not imagined that the West Bank barrier was so big.
“It is clear that the route of the barrier, the expanding settlements and the closure regime and associated controls are severely damaging the social and economic structures of the West Bank and contributing to increased aid reliance, poverty and unemployment,” he said during a visit to East Jerusalem town of Abu Dis.