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Israel spurns UN plea to ease Gaza blockade

AP, Jerusalem
Israel stood fast yesterday by its decision to clamp shut cargo crossings at the Gaza Strip, brushing off pleas to case the blockade from United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
Israel scaled the passages two weeks ago after a 5-month-old truce between Israel and Gaza militants started unraveling in an effort to halt rocket and mortar fire at Israeli border towns.
The crossings, a main source of imports to Gaza, have been cracked open occasionally to allow in fuel and vital supplies. But the closures haw drastically reduced the amount of goods entering the already impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people, causing shortages of many basic goods.
On Tuesday, Ban called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ’to express his deep concern over the consequences of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza." the UN said in a statement.
'He strongly urged the prime minister to facilitate the freer movement of urgently needed humanitarian supplies and of concerned United Nations personnel into Gaza,” the statement said.
Olmert said Israel was not to blame for the deterioration of conditions in Gaza, according to the prime minister s office. "Gazans have only Hamas' regime of terror to blame," he said.
Hamas, an Islamic militant group committed to Israel’s destruction, has ruled Gaza since
violently overrunning the territory in lune 2007.
On Tuesday, the UN's top human rights official, Navi Pillay, called for an immediate end to the blockade, saying Gazans have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio on Wednesday that "there has to be quiet for the crossings to open."
Israel and Hamas have been observing a truce since June. The cease-fire has largely held until Israeli troops entered Gaza early this month to destroy a tunnel they said militants had dug to attack Israel. At least 17 militants have been killed since, and militants have fired about 150 rockets and mortars at Israel, by the military 's count.
The June 19 cease-fire is to expire in December. The fighting might be an attempt by both sides to dictate more favorable terms for renewing the truce.
There were tenuous indications, however, that the violence might be subsiding. No major clashes were reported on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Barak said "it's possible" there are signs militants were holding their fire.
If the other side decides after all to go toward a mice, then there will be a truce," he said. But if militants escalate the violence, then Israel will launch a large-scale military operation, he said.