Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts     

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The future of the Middle East peace process, the stability of the region and the safety of ordinary people in the Gaza Strip have been seriously jeopardized by Hamas rocket attacks and the "excessiveness of Israel's response," a senior United Nations envoy warned Friday.

    "Much of Gaza's infrastructure has now been destroyed. The death and injury toll in Gaza continues to mount. Hamas rockets are now reaching 40 kilometers into Israel," Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told a press conference here via video-link from Jerusalem.

    He made the statement as diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict intensify. On the seventh day of Israeli bombing raids on Gaza and with more than 400 Gazans reportedly killed and thousands wounded, Serry called for the international community to step up its attempts to end the growing humanitarian crisis.

    Israel has cited rocket and other attacks by militants in Gaza against Israeli civilians as the reason for its military offensive and closing crossings into Gaza for much of the previous two months.

    With Israeli tanks on Gaza's border, the envoy underscored the urgency and importance of an immediate and lasting cessation of hostilities to avoid an even deeper and deadlier conflict.

    He said that he will join a number of Arab leaders slated to arrive in New York next week to find a solution to the crisis.

    "Diplomatic efforts are underway involving many players, including the United States, the European Union (EU), the Arab League, Turkey and others, and we believe the roles of the Quartet(the UN, EU, Russia and the United States) and the (UN ) Security Council are going to be very important," he said.

    While a cease-fire is vital, a return to the previous situation would not be enough to maintain security or find a durable peace, Serry said.

    Meanwhile, he stressed the need for the uninterrupted reopening of crossings into Gaza with a commitment from both sides to fully respect a cease-fire, including an end to all rocket attacks from Gaza and weapons smuggling into the Hamas-controlled territory.

    "It will also require bringing Gaza back into the fold of the Palestinian Authority through arrangements on the ground and renewed efforts to reunited Gaza and the West Bank," he said, adding that "it is more vital than ever that Israeli-Palestinian peace is achieved. The underlying issues must be addressed: end of conflict, end of occupation and the creation of the Palestinian State alongside a secure Israel."

    Meanwhile, the UN World Food Program (WFP) has been distributing bread to families in the hardest-hit areas of Gaza, and said Friday that it urgently requires 9 million U.S. dollars to meet additional food needs caused by the upsurge in fighting.

    The bombing raids over last week have greatly worsened the already harsh humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is home to an estimated 1.5 million people facing severe shortages of food, fuel and cooking gas.

    "The current situation in Gaza is appalling and many basic food items are no longer available on the market," said Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, the WFP representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.

    The UN agency started handing out bread to around 15,000 people in the northern city of Beit Hanoun -- one of the poorest areas in Gaza and the most heavily affected by the conflict.

    However, the recent Israeli offensive has prevented WFP and its partners from operating at full capacity and has delayed the regular distribution of food to nearly 270,000 people in the region.

    "We are responding to the immediate food emergency needs as much as we can, but the destruction of local infrastructure and the shortages of basic utilities such as fuel and gas means that more people will fall into poverty, and have no other option than to be assisted by the international community," said Nieuwenhuyse.    

    WFP's 3,300-ton food stockpile will run out during the next month as distributions resume, security permitting, with more food convoys expected to replenish the supplies, UN officials said.

    Due to the scarcity of wheat, most of the mills and bakeries in Gaza have stopped working and there is an acute shortage of bread, the staple food for Palestinians.

    In a related development, a group of independent UN human rights experts said Friday that it was "deeply alarmed" at the continuing violence in Gaza and called on all parties to end attacks putting civilian lives at risk.

    "Both air strikes by Israeli government forces and rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel are resulting in inexcusable loss of life and placing the civilian populations in the affected areas in extreme danger," said Asma Jahangir, chairperson of the experts' coordinating body, said in a statement.

    She stressed that international human rights law "imposes binding obligations on all parties in situations of armed conflict."

    The chairperson said that neither Israel's use of disproportionate force, missiles launched from Gaza, nor the general disregard for the safety of non-combatants can justify either side's aggression.

    The UN experts voiced particular concern at the impact of the current violence and destruction of vital infrastructure on the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and called on all parties to ensure access for humanitarian relief efforts and supplies.

    Independent experts, known as special rapporteurs, serve in an autonomous unpaid capacity and report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.