Israeli forces block UN relief convoy headed for Jenin refugee camp
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 4/9/2002

Israeli forces Tuesday blocked the United Nations from delivering aid to the Jenin refugee camp, according to a spokesman for the world body.

"A convoy from the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East - known as UNRWA - accompanied by the Agency's Deputy Commissioner-General and the West Bank Field Office Director was prevented this morning by Israeli forces from entering Jenin refugee camp," spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York on Tuesday. He added that the Agency had been able to enter the City of Jenin, delivering 2,000 food parcels, along with blankets and blood supplies, to Jenin Hospital.

"UNRWA officials tells us they will try again tomorrow to enter the refugee camp," the spokesman said, adding that the Agency's ambulances "remain ready to enter the camp as soon as permitted to do so by Israeli forces."

At the same time, Agency officials continued assisting some 300 women, children and elderly persons who had been forced out of the Jenin camp last night and into Jenin City, many taking refuge in a Red Cross compound.

Meanwhile, in Ramallah, Israeli soldiers entered an UNRWA run-school known as the Men's Training College, where several hundred boarding students are trapped by the fighting. "UNRWA officials have gone to the school to assess the situation," Eckhard said.

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