UN urges urged Israel to ease its embargo on Gazza over water crisis

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - A top United Nations official on Thursday urged Israel to ease its embargo of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and allow in materials urgently needed to repair water and sanitation services.

‘The deterioration and breakdown of water and sanitation facilities in Gaza is compounding an already severe and protracted denial of human dignity in the Gaza Strip,’ UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard told reporters.

‘At the heart of this crisis is a steep decline in standards of living for the people of Gaza, characterised by erosion of livelihoods, destruction and degradation of basic infrastructure, and a marked downturn in the delivery and quality of vital services in health, water and sanitation,’ he said.

Destruction caused during the Israeli military offensive at the turn of the year worsened an already critical situation, leaving some services and facilities on the brink of collapse, he said.

The amount of repair items allowed in fell far short of what is needed to restore the water and sanitation system, he added.

Gaylard urged Israel to ‘take immediate steps to ensure the entry into Gaza of construction and repair materials necessary to respond to the water and sanitation crisis that exists in the Gaza Strip.’

Israel and Egypt have kept Gaza under a virtual blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in the Palestinian enclave in June 2007.