Red Cross house destruction relief program in Gaza

In a report circulated by its office in Damascus, the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC announces that the UCRC in Gaza has started on March 14, 2001, distributing non- food assistance to 117 families whose homes have been destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip since October 2000.

The House Destruction Relief program, which until now was provided on an ad-hoc basis, is now being intensified and systematized to provide the homeless families with tents, blankets and other essential house-hold goods. The Distribution will go on throughout the month in different locations.

Furthermore, the ICRC regrets that its Humanitarian efforts are being hampered by constraints and obstacles. The ICRC insists that Humanitarian goods, while not exempt from security checks, should nonetheless be delivered speedily and appropriately.

On 26 February 2001, the International Committee of the red Cross ( ICRC) in Tel Aviv had already expressed its concern about the situation of the families living in areas completely, or near completely, blocked by Israeli Defense Forces security cordons.

Over the past months, as it has been amply reported in the press, the economic conditions of many people living in closed villages has deteriorated considerably, essentially through loss of earnings. There have also been incidents where vital medical assistance was denied, or delayed, thereby causing serious aggravations of individual medical conditions.

The ICRC views the policy of isolating whole villages for an extended period as contrary to International Humanitarian law (IHL) particularly with respect to those aspects of IHL, which protect civilians in times of occupation. Indeed, stringent closures frequently lead to breaches of Article 55 ( free passage of medical assistance and foodstuffs ), Article 33 ( prohibition of collective punishment), Article 50 ( children and education), Article 56 ( movement of medical transportation and public health facilities ) and Article 72 ( access to lawyers for persons charged) of the Fourth Geneva Conventions.

Furthermore, these security measures must allow for a quick return to normal civilian life. This, in essence, is the meaning of the fourth Geneva Convention which is applicable to the Occupied territories.

Confronted with this situation, the ICRC is implementing a " Closure relief Program( CRP) which plans to assist some 35,000 people in sixty West bank " closed villages. The purpose of this program is twofold: -at a primary level, the assistance provided by the ICRC is to give some form of economic support to people whose income is badly affected by the Israeli Defense Force's " closures" policy. The relief packages include blankets, sugar, tea, washing powder, and an assortment of personal hygiene items.

-More importantly, the ICRC is using the deliveries of relief to strengthen its civilian population protection activities by re-asserting the meaning and scope of the Fourth Geneva Convention. By seeking access to vulnerable populations, the ICRC is highlighting both their plight and the responsibilities of those hose duty is to protect them.

Through the implementation of its Closure relief program and alongside its more traditional forms of activities and representations, the ICRC seeks to see the resumption of normal life for the concerned villagers as soon as possible.

The CRP will target five villages each week for the rest of the year.

The criteria used by the ICRC to select the Closure Relief program- targeted villages include the number of socially vulnerable people and the prevailing level of unemployment and the number of days the village was ' closed" or " curfewed ."

The ICRC reiterates that the destruction of private property in occupied territories, which includes houses and agricultural infrastructures, is prohibited.

The International committee of the Red Cross, operating in the area for the past 34 years by virtue of the mandate entrusted to it in the Geneva Conventions, will continue to do its utmost to assist and protect the victims in accordance with the principles that govern its neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian work.