Toys For Gazan Children Denied Entry Into Gaza

Toys For Gazan Children Denied Entry Into Gaza

Israel allows water filtration system into Gaza; refuses children's toys from UNICEF
Ma'an News

A UN report revealed that Israel, though refusing to allow construction materials into Gaza, allowed a Brackish Water Desalination Plant, nine trucks of prefab materials for school assembly between 22 and 28 February.

During the same time period 57 boxes of children’s toys from UNICEF were denied entry. "According to COGAT (coordinator of government activities in the territories)," the UN report released Tuesday said, "The toys were not a humanitarian priority."

Israeli authorities have resolutely refused to allow concrete, steel bars and construction equipment into the West Bank for fear that it would fall into the hands of Hamas. A Brackish Water Desalination Plant includes filtration systems, pumps, pressure valves, chemical treatment materials, electronic switchboards and remote control systems. The plant will provide 50 m3 of drinking water per hour which will benefit approximately 22,000 refugees in the Al-Bureij camp in the central strip.

While there is no question that such systems are a humanitarian necessity, according to reports by leading NGOs in the area, they have also stressed the importance of school supplies and the danger of major psychosomatic trauma among the children of Gaza.

Israel allowed a prefab school building into Gaza, but not 50 Early Childhood Education kits from UNICEF.

So as the refusals continue bare-minimum materials are allowed piecemeal into Gaza despite international partners who have "pressed for this incessantly" as Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations for the European Union said Tuesday.

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