Assistance to the Palestinian people – Emergency report on OPT – WFP report (excerpts)

WFP Emergency Report No. 49 of 2002

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B) Middle East Region: (1) Palestinian Territories

1) Palestinian Territories 

(a) On 30 November, a four-storey building of which the entire ground floor was a WFP warehouse was demolished by the Israeli Defence Forces in the town of Jaballia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which was targeted in a military incursion. Despite the fact that the storage area was well marked as a WFP warehouse, with a large WFP flag and stickers on the doors, the soldiers proceeded to destroy the doors of the warehouse using tanks. The owner of the building witnessed dynamite sticks being placed in various parts of the building and several blasts were heard, followed by a large explosion from a projectile dropped from a helicopter. The building collapsed and everything left in it, including 540 tons of food, was destroyed.

(b) The food, worth US 271,000, was to be distributed by the Ministry of Social Affairs to 41,300 people affected by the ongoing humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip. WFP should have been permitted to remove the food. This act has been carried out against basic humanitarian principles. WFP is asking the Government of Israel to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and take full responsibility for the losses incurred by WFP.

(c) Movements to, and within the West Bank have been severely restricted for WFP staff during the second half of November. Security clearances have been rarely granted, especially to Jenin, in the wake of the killing of UNRWA staff member by the Israeli Defense Forces. Despite these constraints, WFP was able to provide over 700 tons of food to 52,500 vulnerable people from 16 to 30 November.

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