Residents of the Gaza Strip have been unable to receive humanitarian aid - on which 80% of the population depends - since the Israeli army instituted a blockade earlier this month. Following the recent tightening of borders, Israeli authorities have also denied international journalists access to Gaza, and refused entry to a convoy of European diplomats last week.

The United Nations Relief and Work Agency, the main UN aid agency which provides humanitarian assistance to close to one million Palestinians in Gaza, announced November 13 that its supplies had run out, after repeated warnings. The delivery of medical supplies, industrial fuel donated by the European Union and needed to power Gaza’s power plant, have also been blocked. Large parts of Gaza are now experiencing a blackout as a result.

“Israel’s latest tightening of its blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse. This is nothing short of collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population,” said Amnesty International Deputy Director Philip Luther.

Amnesty International is calling upon Israeli authorities to allow the immediate passage of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and fuel to the Gaza Strip.

A renewed wave of violence has struck the region after the breakdown this month of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted the firing of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages. Five other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces and others injured in recent days. Palestinian rocket attacks have continued, and one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot early last week.

Since the beginning of the year and prior to the ceasefire of 19 June 2008, approximately 420 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, half of them unarmed civilians, including about 80 children. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups killed 24 Israelis, 15 of them civilians, including four children.

Prior to the blockade, the five-and-a-half month ceasefire brought a welcome respite from the daily attacks of the past eight years for the civilian population in Gaza and southern Israel. During this time some 4,750 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis were killed. Most of the victims on both sides have been unarmed civilians, including some 900 Palestinian children and 120 Israeli children.