Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    UNITED NATIONS, March 12 (Xinhua) -- UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said Wednesday that some goods were entering Gaza through three open crossings.

    Okabe told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York that three crossings in Gaza are open Wednesday.

    She said that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that UNICEF has been able to import a refrigerator truck into Gaza for transporting vaccines, and 10 transformers have reached Gaza's electricity supply company.

    Although these developments represent very small successes, they did not seem likely a few weeks ago, according to OCHA.

    OCHA also reports that, because of the warm weather in Gaza, power cuts there are down to around three hours a day, noting that will lead to a reduction in the amount of sewage being pumped into the sea and will allow the health services to conserve fuel.

    However, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday that the power crisis is still existing and worsening in the Gaza Strip due to an Israeli decision to reduce fuel shipments to the coastal enclave.

    Israel had imposed a strict siege and stepped up military operations in the Gaza Strip since last June when Hamas took over the coastal enclave by force from pro-Abbas security forces.

    Between late February and early this month, the Israeli army launched a major military operation against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip during which some 123 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of others injured.

Barak: Israel to continue operations in Gaza

    JERUSALEM, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel would continue to operate against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite a recent relatively calm in rocket fire, local daily Ha'aretz quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying on Monday.

    Barak said that "the fighting is ongoing and will continue and will at times increase and decrease," adding the defense establishment's goal was to stop the rocket fire at Israel and the terror emanating from Gaza, while dramatically reducing weapon smuggling into the strip. Full story

Israeli army pulls out of Gaza following sequential conflicts

    JERUSALEM, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew its ground troops from the Gaza Strip early Monday, completing the first stage of the activity dubbed "Operation Hot Winter."

    The IDF ground troops' withdrawal came following days of incursion with an aim of checking Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israel. Full story