VOA标准英语2009年-Israel Opens Up Humanitarian Corridors in Gaza

Israel ordered a temporary halt to its military operations in Gaza for several hours Wednesday to allow aid to reach civilians² in the territory through humanitarian³ corridors. Israel also says it is studying proposals for a ceasefire in Gaza, but fighting continues in the meantime.
　

Palestinians collect water during a three-hour break in the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Gaza City, 07 Jan. 2009

The first test of the humanitarian corridors came Wednesday when the military said it stopped operations for several hours to facilitate the flow of aid into Gaza. Officials said they would consider further such temporary ceasefires in days to come. Hamas also agreed to stop firing during that time.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the aim is to allow aid to get to the people of Gaza.

"We have got a situation where the crossings have been opened and food stuffs and medicines have been entering Gaza, but because of the difficult combat situation there has been a problem with distribution and I think the idea of the corridors is to allow for a flow of both food stuffs and medicines inside the Gaza Strip so they will reach the people that we want them to reach," he said.

Aid officials welcome the corridors, but say it can only be a first step.

"A humanitarian corridor, yes please," said UN spokesman Christopher Gunness. "That's very good, thank you very much. But we need a ceasefire so people can come and collect the food from our food distribution centers. A humanitarian corridor, in and of itself, if you don't have a situation where people can come and collect food, is frankly⁴ not enough."
　

An Israeli army artillery5 battery fires a smoke bomb into the Gaza Strip from the border, 06 Jan 2009

The agreement on such humanitarian corridors comes amid growing international concerns about civilian¹ casualties from Israel's military operations in Gaza and a day after Israeli forces fired on several U.N. schools in Gaza, in one instance killing⁶ at least 30 people who had taken shelter in the school compound.

Israel launched its military operations 12 days ago in response, it said, to Hamas militants⁷ stepping up rocket attacks against Israel.

Medical officials in Gaza estimate that more than 650 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks and over 2,500 injured, many of them civilians.

While diplomacy⁸ is stepped up, the fighting in Gaza continues. The Israeli military says its air force struck over 40 targets over night while ground forces clashed with armed militants and uncovered weapons caches, smuggling⁹ tunnels and stores of explosives. Hamas also continued to fire rockets into southern Israel.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

9 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。