MICHELE NORRIS, host:
From NPR News, this is All Things Considered. I'm Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel. In Israel, international aid agencies are increasingly frustrated and angry. They've been trying to deliver supplies and personnel into the Gaza Strip after Israel's three-week bombardment. Today, Israel eased its blockade of Gaza. It opened the border, but only under pressure and only to a few organizations. NPR's Anne Garrels traveled to the Erez crossing into Gaza today, and she sent us this report.
ANNE GARRELS: Aid organizations need to get into Gaza to assess needs and relieve colleagues who are exhausted after the three-week Israeli offensive. But Mike Baily, with Oxfam International, says for six days since the cease-fire, the Israeli government has given them the runaround.
Mr. MIKE BAILY (Oxfam International): We had had every reason under the sun given to us for not going in: that it was security, that it wasn't the right day, that is was closed for holiday, that the right people were not available, that we would hear tomorrow.
GARRELS: In addition to supervising deliveries of items like food, medicines and plastic sheeting, Baily says Oxfam urgently needs to help Gazan farmers restore their destroyed fields and clear them of unexploded ordinance.
Mr. BAILY: If we don't plant crops now, we're not going to have any harvest in three or four months' time, and the one and a half million people in Gaza are going to be completely dependent on food aid that's coming in from outside.
GARRELS: Evonne Frederickson, with Sweden's Palestinian Solidarity Association, has been trying to get mental-health experts and doctors into Gaza. She says Israeli policy toward aid agencies has been capricious for a long time.
Ms. EVONNE FREDERICKSON (Sweden's Palestinian Solidarity Association): Sometimes you get in, sometimes you don't get in, so they are playing with those who are working with aid to Gaza.
GARRELS: Since the cease-fire last weekend, Cassandra Nelson of Mercy Corps has called Israeli authorities every day.
Ms. CASSANDRA NELSON (Senior Communication Officer, Mercy Corps): We are really just pressing and pressing on all sides of this argument, but have not gotten any clear response or any logical response as to why we're being denied. So we can't respond and have a proper dialogue about it. We're simply told no, no humanitarian aid workers.
GARRELS: Several aid organizations finally decided to go to the border today, in a convoy accompanied by the press, to publicize the blockade. After several hours, some aid representatives were let through. But Nelson says there was no explanation for who got in and who was denied access. Major players like Save the Children were turned away, and Nelson says there are no guarantees about the future.
Ms. NELSON: This is going to be over a billion-dollar reconstruction project for Gaza, and it simply can't be run by people sitting around and waiting every day for hours at a border point, wondering if their name is on a list or not on a list. You know, there has to be, you know, clear process and procedures.
GARRELS: U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes says Israel has promised cooperation, but he is pushing for clarification.
Mr. JOHN HOLMES (Chief, U.N. Humanitarian): We need to see that demonstrated in practice so that people actually do get in there on a reliable basis, so that they know they'll get in not only today but tomorrow.
GARRELS: In addition to permitting humanitarian personnel, Holmes called on Israel yet again to open more crossing points for supplies. He says Gaza desperately needs generators and construction materials as well as pipes to repair damaged sewage lines.
Mr. HOLMES: The local water authorities raised with us the prospect not only of the immediate health risks, but the damage that could be done to the aquifers in that area by the accumulation of such large quantities of raw sewage seeping down into the aquifers. So I think this is a really time-critical situation.
GARRELS: Israel has blocked all construction materials from reaching Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory 19 months ago. Holmes has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to persuade Israel international aid will not be diverted to Hamas. Asked about the continued limits on aid, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not directly address the issue of aid workers. And he gave no promises the borders would be open for anything more than immediate aid anytime soon.
Mr. MARK REGEV (Spokesman, Israeli Government): We will be part of a reconstruction effort, but an effort that helps the people of Gaza, not an effort that will help Hamas.
GARRELS: But with 4,000 homes destroyed and another 17,000 badly damaged, the U.N. and other aid organizations say the civilians of Gaza cannot afford to wait for regime change. Anne Garrels, NPR News.