ICRC says Israel's Gaza blockade breaks law

Israel's blockade of Gaza is a clear violation of international humanitarian law, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.
In a statement, the ICRC describes the situation in Gaza as dire, saying the only sustainable solution is a lifting of the blockade.
It says Israel is punishing the whole civilian population of Gaza.
The ICRC, a traditionally neutral organisation, paints a bleak picture of conditions in Gaza: hospitals short of equipment, power cuts lasting hours each day, drinking water unfit for consumption.
"The dire situation in Gaza cannot be resolved by providing humanitarian aid," it said in a statement that faulted both the Israeli blockade and poor coordination between rival Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza.
The report by the Geneva-based group came as Israel mulled its four-year blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory amid international pressure on the Jewish state to ease restrictions following its deadly seizure of a Gaza-bound aid fleet last month.
The Red Cross said power cuts of around seven hours a day "pose a serious risk to the treatment of patients," as it takes several minutes for generators to begin operating.
It also said 110 out of 470 essential medicines, including chemotherapy and haemophilia drugs, were unavailable in Gaza because of a lack of coordination between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
ISRAEL SETS UP RAID INQUIRY
Israel has set up an internal inquiry into its deadly raid last month on a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships.
Israel earlier rejected a UN proposal for an international probe, but has now agreed to include two foreign observers in its own inquiry.
Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the ships in international waters on 31 May.
'TRANSPARENT INVESTIGATION'
Last month's clashes came after six ships carrying campaigners and 10,000 tonnes of aid sailed from Cyprus in an attempt to break Israel's three-year blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Israel says its troops acted in self-defence when activists attacked commandos trying to board the main vessel in the flotilla. The campaigners say the soldiers opened fire without any provocation.
EU TO PUSH ISRAEL ON BLOCKADE
EU foreign ministers sought yesterday to push Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, two weeks after a deadly commando attack on an aid flotilla, with diplomats saying the pressure is working.
Israel is showing willingness to significantly ease the blockade following international concern over the attack on the high seas two weeks ago which left nine Turkish activists dead, one European diplomat said.
IRANIAN AID SHIPS HEAD FOR GAZA
Iran is sending aid ships to blockaded Gaza, state radio said yesterday-- a move likely to be considered provocative by Israel which accuses Tehran of arming the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers, Hamas.
One ship left port Sunday and another will depart by Friday, loaded with food, construction material and toys, the report said. The boats would be part of international efforts to break Israel's isolation of the Gaza Strip.
"Until the end of the Gaza blockade, Iran will continue to ship aid," said an official at Iran's Society for the Defence of the Palestinian Nation.