The United Nations has called on the Israeli government to lift the siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than eight years now, while also expressing support for the agreement allowing the entrance of construction supplies and materials into the Strip.
Al-Amat Online quoted a statement issued by the UN's press office, saying that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon insisted, during a recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the "urgent need to lift the siege of Gaza while meeting the legitimate security concerns of Israel".
Ki-moon explained that the return to the status quo ante "is no longer an option", stressing the urgent need to address the underlying causes of the political crisis.
In the same context, the Secretary-General welcomed the tripartite agreement between Tel Aviv, the Palestinian Authority and the UN regarding the entry of construction materials into Gaza and the reconstruction of the Strip, expressing his hope that the agreement would be implemented soon while "restoring the political horizon without further delay".
The Israeli government has imposed a siege of the Gaza Strip ever since the Islamic resistance movement Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006 and took control of the territory in June 2007.
On 7 July 2014, the Gaza Strip was subjected to a massive Israeli military operation that lasted for 51 days and involved the launching of thousands of air, land and sea strikes that resulted in killing about 2,160 Palestinians and wounding thousands, in addition to destroying thousands of homes while horrific family massacres were being committed.
