The US doesn't recognise Hamas. So, ostrich-like, the US has basically ignored Gaza. In fact, the recently appointed emissary for President Obama, George Mitchell, when visiting the Middle East a few weeks ago went to Ramallah and Jerusalem but did not go into Gaza or even to the border-crossings. So much for informing oneself on the facts!
Surprise, surprise, 3 US politicians having just visited Gaza - an unofficial trip it has been stressed - found devastation and expressed their horror at what they found.
news.com.au reports in "Shock at Gaza devastation":
"US Democratic representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison expressed shock at the plight of the war-shattered Gaza Strip during a rare visit to the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave today.
"The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering" Mr Baird said jointly with Mr Ellison during their visit which coincided with a similar trip by US Senator John Kerry.
The visits were the first by US MPs since Hamas, an Islamist movement Washington blacklists as a terrorist organisation, seized control of the overcrowded territory in June 2007.
Mr Ellison, a representative from Minnesota, harshly criticised restrictions on the delivery of desperately needed goods into the coastal strip that has been under a crippling Israeli blockade imposed after the Hamas takeover.
"People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in," he said.
"The stories about the children affected me the most," said Mr Ellison. "No parent, or anyone who cares for kids, can remain unmoved by what Brian and I saw here."
Mr Baird, from Washington state, said the situation he saw was "shocking and troubling beyond words".
"The personal stories of children being killed in their homes or schools, of entire families wiped out, and relief workers prevented from evacuating the wounded are heart wrenching," he said."
Surprise, surprise, 3 US politicians having just visited Gaza - an unofficial trip it has been stressed - found devastation and expressed their horror at what they found.
news.com.au reports in "Shock at Gaza devastation":
"US Democratic representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison expressed shock at the plight of the war-shattered Gaza Strip during a rare visit to the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave today.
"The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering" Mr Baird said jointly with Mr Ellison during their visit which coincided with a similar trip by US Senator John Kerry.
The visits were the first by US MPs since Hamas, an Islamist movement Washington blacklists as a terrorist organisation, seized control of the overcrowded territory in June 2007.
Mr Ellison, a representative from Minnesota, harshly criticised restrictions on the delivery of desperately needed goods into the coastal strip that has been under a crippling Israeli blockade imposed after the Hamas takeover.
"People, innocent children, women and non-combatants, are going without water, food and sanitation, while the things they so desperately need are sitting in trucks at the border, being denied permission to go in," he said.
"The stories about the children affected me the most," said Mr Ellison. "No parent, or anyone who cares for kids, can remain unmoved by what Brian and I saw here."
Mr Baird, from Washington state, said the situation he saw was "shocking and troubling beyond words".
"The personal stories of children being killed in their homes or schools, of entire families wiped out, and relief workers prevented from evacuating the wounded are heart wrenching," he said."
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