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'(4 Feb 2009) SHOTLIST Gaza City, Gaza Strip 1. Wide of United Nations warehouse 2. Close up of sign, reading (Arabic/English) \"Beach Distribution Centre\" 3. Wide of people in front of warehouse 4. Man putting food sacks on top of car 5. People in line in front of warehouse 6. Mid of sack 7. Pan of boy with sack on his shoulder 8. Interior of warehouse with workers 9. Close up of sack with UNRWA (UN Works and Relief Agency) on it 10. Various of workers inside warehouse 11. Pile of food sacks 12. Warehouse workers sorting food supplies 13. Close up of sack with oil and rice inside 14. Close up of UN supply Gaza City, Gaza Strip 15. Wide of Hamas news conference 16. Media 17. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ahmed al-Kurd, Hamas Minister of Social Affairs in Gaza: \"Now I say to the UN - if they want to distribute they can, and if they want to exploit the civil foundation for political purposes, the work of the UN is humanitarian work and not political and it is unacceptable that the agency caved into political pressure and submitted to a political decision.\" 18. Hamas officials leaving Jerusalem 19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency: \"It\'s the first time that there has been an incident like this against UNWRA, certainly. What happened is that armed men came. They forced their way into our warehouse. They were armed, we were not and they took away 3,500 blankets, over 400 food parcels. To put it into context we have distributed over 50,000 blankets and more than 12,000 food parcels, I am not minimising it - we condemn it and we want this aid back. It belongs to the international community and of course it must go to the intended beneficiaries.\" 20. Mid of Gunness STORYLINE: Hamas police in Gaza seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, a United Nations (UN) spokesman said on Wednesday, threatening to fracture relations between the international agency that cares for most of Gaza\'s residents and the territory\'s militant rulers. Hamas policemen forcibly broke into an aid warehouse in Gaza City on Tuesday evening and confiscated 3,500 blankets and over 4-hundred food parcels, said Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA). He said police confiscated aid meant for 500 families after UN officials refused to voluntarily hand it over to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs. Similar UN aid packages had already been distributed to 70-thousand residents over the past two weeks. The UN agency provides food, education and health care services to more than half of Gaza\'s 1.4 (m) million residents. At a news conference in Gaza City, Ahmed al-Kurd, Hamas Minister of Social Affairs in Gaza, charged that the UN was giving the aid to local groups with ties to Hamas opponents, and that the organisation had \"submitted to a political decision.\" Israeli officials have charged that Hamas routinely confiscates supplies meant for needy Gazans who have been under blockade by Israel for 20 months. However, Gunness said on Wednesday this was the first time Hamas had seized UN aid. Hamas is under pressure to provide aid to Gazans, who are facing more hardship than ever since Israel\'s devastating three-week military offensive, which killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians. The operation, aimed at halting rocket fire from the territory, killed hundreds of civilians and left thousands destitute after their homes were damaged or destroyed. The United Nations is expected to take a leading role in rebuilding Gaza, because Israel and the international Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/b5a2c94cde279001643e272f3567d357'
Tags: AP Archive , 594676 , b5a2c94cde279001643e272f3567d357 , Middle East UN
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