VZCZCXRO1910
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #0187/01 0292126
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292126Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7436
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0433
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000187 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND NEA/IPA; PRM FOR FRONT OFFICE AND 
PRM/ANE; NSC FOR KUMAR; DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR 
ANE/MEA:MCCLOUD/BORODIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EAID EAGR PREF GZ IS
SUBJECT: GAZA HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REMAINS SERIOUS, WITH 
QUALIFIED IMPROVEMENTS 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 2094 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  One year after the end of the war in 
Gaza, the coastal territory remains in a challenging 
humanitarian situation, with modest improvements in access 
for humanitarian and commercial goods.  The average number of 
monthly shipments into Gaza increased by nine percent in 2009 
compared to the previous year, but was driven primarily by 
essential aid requirements during and following the conflict. 
 A relaxation in access beginning in December 2009 allowed 
for shipments of glass and some other previously banned 
materials, as well as exports of strawberries and carnations. 
 Many construction materials, including those for UN projects 
for the electricity, water, and sewage networks and for the 
health sector, remain in short supply.  The private sector 
continues to rely heavily on goods brought in through 
tunnels.  End summary. 
 
Post-Conflict Aid Drives 2009 Figures 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The volume of humanitarian and commercial shipments 
into Gaza in 2009 was nine percent higher than that of the 
previous year, according to OCHA statistics.  Even so, it was 
only about a quarter of the pre-2007 volume.  According to 
OCHA statistics, the number of truckloads of supplies into 
the Gaza Strip increased in 2009 (32,590 truckloads) by 
nearly nine percent from 2008 (29,959 truckloads).  Nearly 25 
percent of the 2009 shipments were humanitarian, versus less 
than nine percent in 2008, according to OCHA data. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The increase in shipments and the significantly 
higher proportion of humanitarian aid (basic foodstuffs, 
blankets, and medicine) in 2009 likely reflect Gaza's urgent 
humanitarian needs following December 2008-January 2009 
combat operations, rather than meaningful improvement in 
access.  For the first three months of 2009, immediately 
following the January 2009 cease-fire, the average number of 
truckloads per month was more than 3,200, compared to an 
average of less than 2,550 truckloads per month for the last 
three months of 2009.  In contrast, the first five months of 
2007 (prior to Hamas's takeover in Gaza in June 2007) saw an 
average of 12,350 trucksloads per month cross into Gaza from 
Israel.  If daily figures for January 2010 truckload 
shipments into Gaza hold steady, the total number of 
shipments for that month will be well below the monthly 
average for 2009.  Note:  According to the GOI, there has 
been a 28 percent increase in shipments into Gaza between 
2008 and 2009.  It is unclear how the GOI reached this 
conclusion.  End note. 
 
Some Reconstruction Materials Permitted, 
But Restrictions Continue 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In December 2009, the GOI expanded its list of 
non-edible commodities allowed into Gaza, though most of the 
items had been permitted in 2009 on a temporary basis.  Most 
notably, the GOI in late December 2009 began to allow glass 
to enter Gaza for the first time since the December 
2008-January 2009 conflict.  As of January 25, 2010, 57 
truckloads (32,110 boards) of glass entered Gaza, according 
to PalTrade.  Local contacts reported that small businesses 
are selling glass for approximately NIS 100 (USD 27) per 
square meter, approximately twice the price in Israel.  The 
reported GOI cap of 100 trucks per month still does not meet 
local requirements, according to the UN. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In January 2010, the GOI permitted the entry of 
other previously banned materials, including plastic for 
greenhouses (seven truckloads) and water coolers (36 
truckloads).  In addition, most of the remaining construction 
materials for Phase A of the Northern Gaza Emergency Sewage 
Treatment project were allowed into Gaza in December 2009 and 
January 2010. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Supplies for large-scale reconstruction, including 
those needed for essential UN projects -- such as cement, 
rebar, water pumps, and equipment for the electricity 
networks -- remain restricted.  Forty truckloads are still 
waiting to enter Gaza for reconstruction of the electricity 
network; 10 were allowed through in early December 2009. 
According to the WFP, 77 percent of Gazans are "food 
insecure" or "vulnerable to food insecurity."  Most in those 
 
JERUSALEM 00000187  002 OF 002 
 
 
categories receive food aid from humanitarian agencies. 
According to Oxfam, due to the destruction of the water 
systems during December 2008-January 2009 combat operations, 
tens of thousands rely on clean water distribution from aid 
agencies and hundreds of thousands buy privately tankered 
water. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In the health sector, 15 of Gaza's 27 hospitals and 
43 of its 110 primary health care facilities were damaged or 
destroyed in December 2008-January 2009 combat operations, 
and have not yet been rebuilt due to a lack of materials. 
Contacts regularly cite the shortage of medical equipment -- 
x-ray machines, other electronic devices, and spare parts -- 
due to Israeli restrictions.  There are few obstacles to 
imported medicines, though coordination problems between the 
Palestinian Authority and authorities in Gaza (who must 
answer to Hamas) frequently result in shortages. 
 
Fuel Update 
----------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Cooking gas remains insufficient to meet demand. 
According to OCHA, local need varies between 5,000 and 7,000 
tons of cooking gas per month.  Gaza received 1,739 metric 
tons in October 2009, 1,202 in November 2009, and 2,614 in 
December 2009.  Note:  Cooking gas is too unstable to be 
transported in large volumes through the extensive network of 
tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt, though it is now arriving in 
canisters.  End note.  One reason for the shortage, according 
to contacts, is the GOI's decision to shift fuel transfers to 
Kerem Shalom (at the convergence of Egypt, Israel, and the 
southern tip of the Gaza Strip), which has no storage tanks 
and has a lower capacity than Nahal Oz, the previous 
principal fuel transfer station (located north of Kerem 
Shalom and between the Gaza Strip and Israel), which 
officially closed on January 3, 2010. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) A local contact estimated that 40 percent of 
bakeries have recently converted their ovens to run on diesel 
instead of cooking gas.  Chicken farms, which require cooking 
gas to keep chicks warm, have also suffered considerable 
losses (400,000 chicks died in November, according to the UN) 
due to the lack of cooking gas.  According to contacts in 
Gaza, live chickens now cost NIS 16 (USD 4.30) per kilogram, 
in contrast to NIS 10 (USD 2.70) per kilogram before the 
onset of the severe cooking gas shortage in the fall.  Diesel 
and petrol, supplied through the tunnels as well as official 
crossings, continue to meet local demand. 
 
Two Gazan Exports 
----------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Following extensive lobbying by the Dutch 
government, the GOI permitted exports of carnations beginning 
on December 10, 2009, and strawberries beginning on January 
3, 2010.  According to PalTrade, Gazan farmers had exported 
19 truckloads of carnations (2.3 million stems) as of January 
28, 2010, an increase over the figures for that point in the 
2008-2009 season (1.3 million stems) and the 2007-2008 season 
(1.5 million stems).  Gaza has the capacity to export 55 
million stems (as it did in the beginning of the decade) 
during the mid-November to mid-May export season. 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  PalTrade reported that Gazan farmers have 
exported 28 truckloads (46.1 metric tons) of strawberries as 
of January 28, 2010.  The strawberry export season lasts from 
mid-November to mid-February, and Gaza's export capacity is 
2,300 tons.  Gaza did not export any strawberries in 2009 and 
only exported 70 tons in 2008, in comparison to 1,345 tons in 
2007 and 2,089 tons in 2006. 
 
RUBINSTEIN