Annan warning on Gaza 'disaster'

[AlamoDemoc]

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has demanded that Israel take urgent action to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Mr Annan called on Israel to restore supplies of food and fuel and to repair a power plant hit in an air strike.

Mr Annan's statement was his second in as many days about the situation in Gaza.

The BBC's Richard Galpin at the UN in New York says Mr Annan is clearly becoming increasingly alarmed by what is happening and is becoming increasingly blunt in his statements.

Mr Annan said the strike on the region's only power station had affected hospitals, water and sanitation plants, as well as food production.

In a separate statement, UN agencies including the World Health Organization, Unicef and the World Food Programme said Gaza was on the brink of a public health disaster.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5162062.stm

[acmavm]

1. A humanitarian disaster is exactly what the Israeli government wants.

That's why they use their planes to bomb a power plant and innocent civilians on the ground.

edit: to add this

http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8IOJ5U01

<snip>

Israel Vows to Push Gaza Offensive Until Palestinians Release Captured Israeli Soldier

07-09-2006 11:45 AM
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM -- Israel will push forward with its offensive in the Gaza Strip until Palestinian militants release a captured Israeli soldier and halt rocket attacks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, he dismissed international criticism that the army has used excessive force during a nearly two-week operation in the coastal area.

The meeting came a day after Olmert rejected a call by the Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, for a cease-fire. The Israeli offensive, launched in response to the soldier's capture, has caused widespread destruction in Gaza and left 51 Palestinians dead.

<snip>

"We are prepared to continue the operation a month, two months and, if need be, even more," he told Channel 2 TV late Saturday. "The Palestinians will do their reckoning. They will count hundreds of dead terrorists, they will count the damaged infrastructure, the destroyed offices, the damaged factories."
-MORE-



Israeli soldiers get into an armored personal carrier before the drive towards the abandoned airport near the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah at a gathering point near kibbutz Kerem Shalom, just outside the Gaza Strip, Sunday, July 9, 2006. Israel will push forward with its offensive in the Gaza Strip until Palestinian militants release a captured Israeli soldier and halt their rocket attacks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday, rejecting international criticism that the army has used excessive force during a nearly two-week operation in the coastal area. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

[AlamoDemoc]

2. indeed... mind you, we are paying this disaster with our tax dollars

[DELUSIONAL]

3. Meanwhile New Orleans is waiting for relief . . . .

while the US picks up the 43 million $$$$ tab for blowing up the Gaza Power plant -- boy that really pisses people off when I tell them that the US tax payers are going to be paying for the Israeli "show of force" in Gaza -- and that is a show of force thanks to US taxpayers.