VOA标准英语2009年-UN Halts Aid Deliveries to Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Workers Agency says it has halted aid deliveries to the besieged¹ Gaza Strip until the safety of aid workers can be guaranteed. The agency is calling for a permanent ceasefire.
　

A Palestinian man carries flour at a UN food distribution center in Gaza City, 08 Jan 2009

Spokeswoman Elena Mancusi Materi tells VOA the decision was made after one of UNRWA's drivers was shot and killed by tank fire while on his way to an Israeli border crossing to pick up some goods.

"We are not willing to put at risk the security of our staff or of our contractors² by asking them to move along in trucks and to go around the Strip," she said. "But, if somebody comes to our distribution center asking for food, of course, we will be giving them food. If somebody comes to one of our shelters to be hosted, of course we will host these people."

Mancusi says full operations will be resumed once UNRWA receives guarantees of safety from the Israeli authorities.

Speaking earlier from Jerusalem to journalists in Geneva, UNRWA chief spokesman Christopher Gunnis said UNRWA only has enough food on hand for several days.

UNRWA feeds 750,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza. On any given day, about 20,000 people pick up their food rations³ from various distribution points. Given the vast needs, he says a daily three-hour suspension of hostilities⁴ is not enough for the aid agencies to help all the people of Gaza.

"We got access to a shelter in the north of Gaza that had been cut off for days," Gunnis said. "We were able to get down to the south and refuel some of our vehicles where we had not been able to get food, and we began the process of recovering some damaged food stocks, again in the north. Although there is a pause, of course on the ground, there remain Israeli positions, which means that the Gaza Strip is extremely difficult to move around."

International Committee of the Red Cross Deputy Director of Operations Dominique Stillhart says health workers, particularly from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, must be granted around-the-clock safe, unlimited⁵ passage to reach the wounded, treat them and take them to hospitals if needed.

"I just want to tell you that we have had cases of wounded people dying because ambulances could not reach them," he said.

Stillhart says during the three-hour break in hostilities Wednesday, Israeli officials finally allowed a Red Cross-Red Crescent team to go into houses shelled four days earlier in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City.

He says the rescuers found 15 dead and 18 wounded, including found four small children too weak to stand on their own next to their dead mothers.

"And, this only 80 meters away from an IDF, Israeli military post who were clearly aware what was happening in these houses and they did not allow the Palestinian Crescent and ICRC to access these places," he said. "And, clearly failed ... their own obligation under international humanitarian⁶ law to care for the wounded regardless of which side, be they Palestinian or Israeli wounded."

The Israeli Ambassador in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, says his country respects international humanitarian law and did not fail in its humanitarian obligation. He says it only became possible for humanitarian teams to evacuate⁷ the wounded once the military activity was over.

1 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

2 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

4 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

5 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

6 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。

7 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。