Petition: Open Karni crossing immediately
Legal center for Arab rights petitions High Court of Justice order opening of crossing to allow supplies into Gaza. Shutdown deemed 'arbitrary, callous act'
Adala, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice Sunday demanding that the Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza be opened immediately.
The petition, filed by Adala's attorney Fatima al-Aju, said the closed crossing is a "vital route which can allow hundreds of tons of supplies through a day."
Since the IDF closed Karni in wake of the Hamas takeover of Gaza, supplies were allowed into the Strip via secondary routes.
"In the absent of raw materials to produce food and the lack of resources to purchase the little that exists, Gaza residents grow more dependent on regular supply of goods from outside sources," said the petition.
"Shutting the crossings down harms the local industry, affecting people's livelihood and causing a bad situation to get worse."
Keeping the crossings closed, said the petitioners, may crush Gaza and the West Bank's economies all together.
"Israel's decision (to shut down the crossings) didn't take into consideration the implications losing a vital crossing like Karni may have on Gazans" al-Aju told Ynet Sunday.
"Israel is in violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law," she added. "Even more so considering that the decision is an arbitrary, callous one."
"We're short on fresh supplies like bread and milk... if the crossings aren't opened soon, in two weeks there'll be nothing left," John Ging, director of UNWRA (United Nation Relief and Works Agency) operations in Gaza, told Ynet Saturday.
About 80 percent of Gazans, he added, depend on relief organizations.
