Aid fails to reach 800,000 Lebanese refugees

[Karmadillo]

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1104482006

DESPERATELY needed medicine, food and water began to trickle into Lebanon last night, but safety fears for aid convoys saw supplies pile up instead of reaching the thousands of civilians caught up in the fierce fighting.

As Hezbollah leaders pledged to launch further attacks on central Israeli cities unless the onslaught was stopped, aid agencies sought assurances that convoys would be given safe passage.

With the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas entering its 19th day, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to the Middle East to discuss the formation of a multinational peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. But even as she arrived, officials warned that humanitarian aid was not getting to where it was most needed.

Yesterday, a US navy catamaran arrived from Cyprus, bearing 20,000 blankets, 1,000 tarpaulins, medical kits and other goods.

An Egyptian military plane also flew in 15 tons of food and medicine and a medical team to set up a field hospital, while 40 tons of food and medicine were flown in from the United Arab Emirates. Jordan also sent a planeload of aid. But aid officials said the goods were "piling up" in Beirut. Aid groups said safety concerns were preventing all but a trickle from reaching areas of south Lebanon, where tens of thousands were reported stranded, with supplies dwindling.

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