UN urges Egypt, Arab League to press Israel on Gaza

CAIRO (AFP) - The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi, on Monday urged Egypt and the Arab League to press Israel to allow reconstruction equipment into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

"I am in Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza and to call on the government of Egypt and the Arab League to continue pressure on the state of Israel to lift entry restrictions on people and construction equipment," Grandi told AFP.

Israel has imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip since the Islamist movement Hamas ousted loyalists of president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah party, taking control of the enclave in June 2007.

The Jewish State launched a 22-day war on Gaza that ended on January 18, 2009 and killed some 1,400 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis also died during the offensive that devastated the impoverished coastal enclave.

Israel refuses to let construction materials into Gaza for fear that Hamas would use it for military purposes.

"We respect Israel's security concerns, they are legitimate concerns, but we have offered very precise guarantees that the material we receive would only be used for our reconstruction projects," Grandi said.

"We have very strict procedures, and we are very scrupulous as far as the use of the resources we receive for our projects," he said.

Grandi, who was appointed Deputy Commissioner for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees on January 20, on Sunday met Arab League chief Amr Mussa and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.