UN suspends aid deliveries to Gaza_English

Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts

BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- The United Nations has halted aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, citing Israeli attacks on its staff and installations as the reason.

Meanwhile, the International Red Cross has also put restrictions on its aid operations to Gaza City.

Palestinian refugees receive food in aid from an office of the United Nations in Gaza city, Jan. 8, 2009. The United Nations halted aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, citing Israeli attacks on its staff and installations hours after it said gunfire from an Israeli tank killed one of its drivers as he was picking up a shipment. (Xinhua Photo)
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The UN says one of its aid trucks came under Israeli fire in northern Gaza, which killed the driver.

A UN spokesman says his organization coordinated the delivery with Israel, and the vehicle was clearly marked with a UN flag and insignia.

The Israeli army says it's investigating the incident.

The UN, meanwhile, says its aid operations in Gaza will be suspended until it can get safety and security guarantees for its staff.

Christopher Gunness, UN Relief and Works Agency, said, "We have been forced to suspend our aid operations in Gaza because of a number of incidents against our staff. Firstly, three Palestinian colleagues have been killed in the fighting, installations are taking direct hits and - in the latest incident - a convoy of three vehicles was going in to recover the body of a dead colleague when it came under direct fire from the Israeli Army."

In Geneva, the International Red Cross says it will restrict its aid operations to Gaza City for at least one day.

The announcement came after one of its convoys came under Israeli fire at the Netzarim crossing during the three-hour lull in fighting on Thursday. One driver was lightly injured.

Israel continued bombing Gaza after nightfall on Thursday, the 13th day of a devastating land, sea, and air assault on Hamas militants in Gaza.

Casualties in the territory are mounting steadily. Gaza hospital officials and human rights workers put the number of dead at nearly 750. UN officials say about half of them were civilians.

Palestinian officials reported some two dozen airstrikes in Gaza on Thursday, which killed at least 24 people.

Two Israeli soldiers were also killed in combat, raising the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza to eight.

Meanwhile, four Israelis, including a soldier, were killed by rockets fired at Israeli cities on the same day.

(Souce: CCTV.com)