UN still waiting for Israel to guarantee safe passage of aid to Lebanon

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23 Jul 2006

INTERVIEW-UN says still waiting Israeli aid guarantee

Reuters
By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations is still waiting for Israel to guarantee safe passage of aid to areas of Lebanon hardest hit in 12 days of bombardment, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator said on Saturday.

Jan Egeland said until Israel gave a green light for aid corridors to south Lebanon, the United Nations and other agencies would not be able to help "hundreds of thousands in their hour of greatest need".

"What is desperately needed is to get it down south," he told Reuters in an interview after he spent a day in Beirut visiting a hospital, touring a Shi'ite district flattened by Israeli strikes, and talking to aid organisations.

He said relief was not reaching those who needed it most because "we don't have access. It's either too dangerous or it's physically impossible to get there because of the destruction".

"After having spent the day of seeing how massive the destruction of civilian infrastructure is, including in southern Beirut where whole blocks have been destroyed, seeing many children wounded in hospital, there should be no doubt in anybody's mind that this is a war where civilians pay the price much more than armed groups or soldiers," he said.

report: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23852023.htm

[TomInTib]

1. Oh, yes they have. Hearts of gold.

Check out this crap.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,19882062-5006506,00.html

So now the Israelis have declared the whole country a no-fly Zone.

"Following requests and information concerning the many shortages, we have opened a corridor for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Lebanon," Israeli chief of staff Dan Halutz said on Friday.

"All countries wanting to send this type of aid can do so by coordinating with Israel," he added.