IDF: No aid crisis in Gaza, shortages are PA's fault

[Behind the Aegis]

As food shortages worsened in Gaza and authorities prepared to open a new channel for passage of vital supplies Monday, Israel's policy chief for the territories denied that the situation amounted to a humantarian crisis, saying that the Palestinians bore responsibility for the scarcity of needed goods.

IDF Major General Yosef Mishlab, coordinator of Israeli activities in the territories, was speaking with President Moshe Katsav as Israeli and PA officials prepared to open the Kerem Shalom crossing point for the passage of aid supplies to the beleaguered Strip.

Bread is already in severely short supply in the Gaza Strip, and there are fears that stocks of milk and dairy products will soon be exhausted.

Although the situation is not of the magnitude of a humanitarian crisis, Mishlab said, "There is, in fact, a shortage of staple goods. We proposed an alternative to the Palestinians, the Kerem Shalom passage, and it will be opened today."

"However," Mishlab added, it was the Palestinian refusal that prompted this lack of food products."

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