UN: Hamas raided warehouse in Gaza, seized blankets, food

[ProgressiveProfessor]

Hamas police in Gaza have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, UN spokesman Chris Gunness said Wednesday.

Gunness said Hamas police raided a UN warehouse in Gaza City, snatching 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels - supplied meant for 500 Palestinian families. He said the incident took place on Tuesday evening, and that it marked the first time Hamas had seized UN aid.

In a statement released Wednesday, UNRWA condemned the theft "in the strongest terms," and demanded that it be "returned immediately." The statement added that the organization "has a strict system of monitoring aid delivery and ensuring that its assistance reaches only the intended beneficiaries," and that officials were present "taking all possible steps to avoid its diversion."
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More: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304681684&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Only source so far is the Jpost but quoting UNRWA means its easily verifiable.

[oberliner]

1. Here's the AP version

UN says Hamas seized food aid, blankets in Gaza

JERUSALEM – Hamas police seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for the needy in Gaza, the U.N. said Wednesday, a move that could threaten the provision of aid that is essential for more than half of Gaza's impoverished residents.

Hamas policemen broke into an aid warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening and confiscated 3,500 blankets and more than 4,000 food parcels, said Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Gunness said the incident was "absolutely unacceptable."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

[bemildred]

2. You gotta wonder what the back story is here.

I mean, there has to be one. UNRWA has to be up to something.

[pelsar]

3. actually i agree...

sounds very strange....will hamas "take revenge"....Is UNRWA planning on leaving and this is their excuse? why now?.....sounds like the beginnings of a mystery.....

[bemildred]

4. Why would Hamas take revenge, they got the food and blankets. nt

[pelsar]

6. cause UNRWA

"told on them".....

[bemildred]

10. This is not hardly the first time this sort of thing has come up, you know.

I'm surprised we have not heard yet about Hamas is stealing the water and air yet, making unauthorized use of the roads ...

[pelsar]

12. UNRWA usually keeps quiet about it

since they dont want any problems....so they usually dont mind the "mafia type" tax that hamas or the PA would place on their goods in the form of stealing.....for reasons unclear they decided to go public

[bemildred]

13. They try to be "diplomatic" with the Israelis too, big deal.

Nobody wants to get killed for trying to feed children.

[EFerrari]

14. It sounds like they're trying to keep order somehow.

It's amazing they're still there at all, really.

[bemildred]

15. I dunno what it is.

But the story as it stands stinks a bit. It's at least possible that they wanted to keep some people warm and fed. Then again, I used to know a guy that would try to barter his food stamps for money so he could buy booze. The thing that annoys me about the story mostly is the notion that Hamas is somehow separate from people in Gaza or Palestinians. If the food and blankets are there to help Palestinians in Gaza, then some of them are going to be members and/or supporters of Hamas. And I'm OK with that. I'm not into extermination based on ones political views.

[EFerrari]

16. Well, yes. There is that. Hamas is constantly construed as some

freestanding other.

[LeftishBrit]

17. I think there is the common ambiguity...

between the political party in government; those who are not powerful but are employed by the party or government; and those who simply vote for the party but are not active in it. Especially in one-party states, and others where the party in government uses party patronage as a means of control, this can be hard to disentangle.

I assume that the thefts are being committed, as in many places, by party/government officials, not ordinary party supporters/members.

[ohio2007]

20. Well there there is one but it's

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/palestine/?id=30185

the bi polar 3rd world war nobody wants to bring up is still being played behind closed doors.

[bemildred]

22. That's a really bad photoshop job there.. nt

[anonymous171]

5. I hate that region so much.

Everyone is absolutely crazy (Israel included.)

[Idealism]

7. Shows how desperate the people there are

Have they started to let in the thousands of trucks of food aid that Israel turns back at the border yet?

[Vegasaurus]

8. Hamas stole from the needy

They are in power.

They really MUST be desperate to steal blankets from poor people.

[Idealism]

9. You think Hamas is living a life of luxury in Gaza?

Every citizen, Hamas or not, is impoverished. Some more than others.

[ohio2007]

19. they stole the portion that was going to Palistinians belonging to Fatah

on edit
the phrase "categorically denied " is being used by Hamas ;)

Haneyya ( Hamas ) gov’t denies UNRWA allegations of seizing relief aid from its depots


The Palestinian government headed by premier Ismail Haneyya on Wednesday categorically denied the UNRWA accusations that the police in Gaza seized relief aid from its warehouses and called on the UN agency to apologize immediately for spreading false news.

For its part, the interior ministry said, in a statement received by the PIC, that the UNRWA allegations is baseless and unacceptable, stressing that the agency"s role is limited to distribution of relief aid to "Palestinian refugees" and not to civil institutions because this act is against the law.

The PIC reporter was informed that amounts of relief aid in a storage depot belonging to a Fatah-affiliated society were held in police custody after learning that this society was distributing the aid to Fatah members only and not to the needy.

Informed sources said that UNRWA was distributing part of the humanitarian aid granted to the Palestinian people to a society belonging to the Fatah faction, which in turn distributed them to Fatah members prompting police action.



http://ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=19179&SectionID=100

Somebody is telling an untruth
but who to believe?
:popcorn:

UN Agency Accuses Hamas Of Stealing Gaza Aid Packages
JERUSALEM (AFP)--The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, said Wednesday that Hamas had seized hundreds of food parcels and thousands of blankets destined for Gaza civilians in the wake of Israel's war.
"At 1430 on 3 February, over 3,500 blankets and 406 food parcels were confiscated from a distribution store at Beach Camp in Gaza by police personnel," it said in a statement.
"This took place after UNRWA staff had earlier refused to hand over the aid supplies to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs.
"The police subsequently broke into the warehouse and seized the aid by force. The aid was due to be distributed to five hundred families in the area," UNRWA said.
"UNRWA condemns in the strongest terms the confiscation of its aid supplies and has demanded that it is returned immediately." :rofl:
Even before Israel's 22-day offensive that ended Jan. 18, the U.N. agency played a key role in distributing aid in the impoverished Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave, handing out food rations to about half the 1.5-million population.

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/un-agency-accuses-hamas-of-stealing-gaza-aid-packages-609681

[azurnoir]

11. The part that confuses me here is

that I have read it opined here that UNRWA employees are mostly Hamas anyway, if fact JPost ran an article about that a few days ago so would this be employee theft?

[ohio2007]

18. UNRWA : LORDS OF MISERY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxyPBQirBH0&eurl

propaganda vid of the day ;)

comment from the link;

hmekl It clearly shows the Palestinian "refugee" problem is Palestinian and UN made and the international community is made to pay huge sums to keep a festering and artificial problem alive...It does not help the Palestinian people at all nor can it make peace progress. But it sure provides a lot of people with comfy salaries...What a pity !

[Idealism]

21. I wonder if you think these "comfy" jobs are worth it

when Israel shells their compounds and attacks their convoys, killing several of them. I bet the dead aid workers won't tell you their job is all fluff.

[Alamuti Lotus]

23. Would this be the warehouse that Israeli jets bombed, or some other one?

[ohio2007]

25. non US msm video shows the whse

"Hamas spokesman said the UN was giving aid to "rival" factions...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMBnrruHH48&eurl=
ie, Fatah


proof positive that Hamas hates Gazans and are in it for the payoff;
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_mideast_diplomacy

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[shira]

26. Hamas selling baby formula stolen from humanitarian aid

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=ar%7Cen&u=http://www.palpress.ps/arabic/index.php%3Fmaa%3DReadStory%26ChannelID%3D50135&tbb=1

[shira]

27. not the first time this has happened

This is from one year ago:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3504211,00.html

And now, this is Chris Gunness, quoted saying that this recent disgusting action by Hamas is the FIRST time aid has been stolen:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/04/un-says-hamas-seized-aid_n_163834.html

Israeli officials say the incident vindicated their long-standing claims that Hamas routinely confiscates aid meant for needy Gazans.

"We have said in the past that we know Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid and donations from international organizations," said military spokesman Peter Lerner.

However, Gunness said this was the first time Hamas seized UNRWA supplies. "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.