UNRWA emergency appeal 2007 – Thirty-second progress report (January-June)

UNRWA

EMERGENCY APPEAL 2007

Thirty-second progress report:  January-June 2007

The first half of 2007 saw a dramatic shift in internal Palestinian politics. Several months of heavy internal clashes in Gaza, during which hundreds were killed and injured, culminated in Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in June. This prompted President Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian National Unity Government, which had taken office in March, and install an emergency cabinet whose influence was effectively limited to the West Bank. With Hamas ousted from the PA, the Western aid embargo was lifted, opening the door for the resumption of direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Government of Israel (GoI) also announced that it would release hundreds of millions of US$ in PA tax revenues held since Hamas’s January 2006 election victory. Meanwhile, following Hamas’s take-over, the GoI tightened access restrictions for persons and goods into and out of Gaza. At the end of the reporting period commercial crossing points lay idle, with access at best intermittent and restricted to supplies of fuel and basic humanitarian commodities. Approximately 6,000 persons remained trapped at the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing at the end of June, waiting for permission to return to Gaza¹.

Full report: