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U.N. Official Calls Gaza 'Miserable'

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The Associated Press

Published: February 16, 2008

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The eight-month closure of Gaza has created "grim and miserable" conditions that deprive Palestinians of their basic dignity, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief said Friday.

Later Friday, a powerful blast went off in the house of a senior Islamic Jihad activist, killing him, his wife and daughter, and three neighbors, said medics and an Islamic Jihad. spokesman.
Islamic Jihad blamed an Israeli airstrike, but the Israeli military denied an attack.

John Holmes, undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, visited Gaza during the day and urged that the territory's borders be reopened to relieve the suffering.

Israel and Egypt severely restricted access to Gaza after the Islamic militant group Hamas gained control of the territory in June. Since then, only a few dozen trucks carrying food, medicine and other staples have been permitted into Gaza every day, and most exports are banned. The closure has driven up poverty and unemployment, and the United Nations says about 80 percent of Gaza's 1.4 million people now get some food aid.

It was Holmes' first visit to Gaza as humanitarian affairs chief, part of a four-day trip that also includes a stop in the Israeli town of Sderot, which has been hit hard by rocket fire from Gaza.

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