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Israel thwarts aid to Lebanese citizins

Israel constantly pronounces that it is seeking to avoid harming Lebanese citizens. It is therefore difficult to reconcile those claims - notwithstanding reports to the contrary - when one learns that the Israelis are clearly hampering efforts to get humanitarian aid to the some 900,000 Lebanese citizens [out of 4 million in the whole country] now displaced by the present conflict.

As The Daily Star in Lebanon reports today:

"The first humanitarian aid to arrive in Sidon by ship consisted of four ambulances and much needed medicine and food for the Red Cross and several local humanitarian organizations. However, none of the aid from the ship or truck convoys reached Tyre after an Israeli air strike hit the last bridge over the Litani River early Monday morning.

Lebanon's humanitarian condition is "deteriorating," the UN's humanitarian coordinator said Monday.

Christopher Stokes, director of operations for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said the bombing of a makeshift bridge had blocked a convoy of food, medical aid and fuel to Tyre, which has seen an increase in wounded from heavy fighting this week.

"Our last remaining supply route into Tyre into the South has been cut," Stokes said after the air strike on the Qasmiyeh crossing about 10 kilometers north of Tyre. The original Qasmiyeh road bridge was destroyed by earlier Israeli air raids.

"The Israelis have also told us that they can provide no security guarantee our convoy will not be attacked, so if we move it will be at our own risk and peril," Stokes said."

Read the complete article here.

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