UN says Hamas seized food aid, blankets in Gaza

UN says Hamas seized food aid, blankets in Gaza
Feb 4, 11:56 AM (ET)
By DIAA HADID

JERUSALEM (AP) - Hamas police seized thousands of blankets and food packages meant for the needy in Gaza, the U.N. said Wednesday, a move that could threaten the provision of aid essential for a majority of Gaza's impoverished residents.

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said Hamas policemen broke into an aid warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening and confiscated 3,500 blankets and more than 400 packages of food.

"They were armed, they seized this, they took it by force," Gunness said, terming the seizure "absolutely unacceptable."

He said police confiscated aid meant for 500 families after U.N. officials refused to voluntarily hand it over to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs. Similar U.N. aid packages had already been distributed to 70,000 residents over the past two weeks.

The U.N. agency provides food, education and health care to more than half of Gaza's 1.4 million residents, but tensions between the UNRWA and Hamas could harm international donations.

"Does anyone really think that the Americans, who are our single largest donor, or the Europeans, who are our largest multination donor, would give us aid in the generous way they do if they thought that aid would go to terrorists?" Gunness said.

The European Commission, which contributed $626 million to the Palestinians in 2008, indicated that a repeat seizure could affect donations.

"We are very concerned, but this is an isolated incident, we hope," said Alix de Mauny, an EC spokeswoman. "We will react accordingly if this develops beyond an isolated incident."

A donors conference is scheduled to be held in Cairo later this month.

The Hamas government demanded an "immediate apology" from the U.N. "for spreading false news," Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said.

But Ahmad Kurd, the Hamas Minister of Social Affairs, did not deny the aid was seized, countering that the U.N. had been handing out relief to groups tied to Hamas' opponents.

"UNRWA did not do what it said it would do, and began distributing its aid to groups that tie their activities to political activism," Kurd said Wednesday.

U.N. officials said they distributed aid directly to residents according to a list compiled by community leaders.

Israeli officials routinely accuse the militant group of taking aid intended for needy Gazans.

"We know Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid and donations from international organizations," Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said.

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They presume the "terrists" took the food and supplies. How do they know it wouldn't be going to Palestinians?
Answer: They don't know. It's all semantics and propagandistic conjecture from the ASSociated Press designed to smear Hamas any chance they get.

It isn't any secret that Israel will never permit a Palestinian state and that is why Hamas was targeted. Hamas has been calling for a state which would also include an Israeli state based on its 1967 borders.