Israel fires at UN officials in Gaza
strip Palestine-Israel, Military, 9/19/2002
United Nations officials travelling in the Gaza Strip were forced
to take cover yesterday when Israeli soldiers fired warning shots in
the direction of a delegation headed by the senior UN relief
official in the region, the UN said.
Peter Hansen, the
Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East, and others accompanying him had to abort
their visit to the Rafah refugee camp after shots were fired from a
nearby outpost.
The delegation, which also included
representatives of several donor countries and Palestinian Authority
officials, was visiting an area of the camp where refugee homes had
previously been destroyed by the Israeli army. No one was injured,
according to a UN spokesman, who said the world body would file an
official complaint about the incident with the Israeli
authorities.
Earlier, UNRWA officially handed over 97 new
shelters to refugee families in the Rafah camp whose houses had been
destroyed by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). The dwellings, which
can accommodate up to 100 families with over five members each, are
a first step in the Agency's effort to provide shelter for the
estimated 4,000 refugees who lost their homes in the
conflict.
"These new shelters make a solid statement of the
commitment of UNRWA and the international community to the welfare
of the refugees," said Mr. Hansen. "The provision of human shelter
has been a fundamental component of UNRWA's mandate since its
foundation, but it speaks greatly of the tragedy of the Palestine
refugees that after 52 years we still find ourselves called upon to
counteract the impact of conflict in so basic a manner."
