GAZA, April 4 (Saba) -- Israel allowed on Sunday a consignment of clothes and footwear to enter the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

It is the first time in years that Israel allows the entry of such consignments of these products into the impoverished salient, Raed Fatouch, Goods Coordinator for the Gaza Strip, told KUNA. The Israeli move came following long-standing Palestinian contacts with Israeli officials, he said. Israel has been slapping a blockade on the Gaza Strip since June 2006, after Palestinian militants launched a cross-border raid and snatched an Israeli soldier, who is still being held somewhere in the enclave.

Although Israel sometimes allows some goods to enter the enclave, the amount and type of commodities are limited, throwing 1.5 million Gazans into distress.

Israel has come under increasing pressure to end its blockade, with critics saying it amounts to collective punishment of the Gaza Strip population However, Israel is still opposed to the entry of construction materials into the Palestinian territory, the Palestinian official said.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian anti-blockade campaigner urged the international community to save Palestinian children living in the Gaza Strip from the unbearable aftershocks of the strict Israeli blockade on the enclave.
Addressing a Palestinian festival for children, Jamal al-Khidri said Gazan children, who make up 53 percent of the territory's population, are living awfully hard living circumstances.

He called on all international child institutions to seek to help Palestinian children by all available means.

Since the last Israeli aggression on the Palestinian city, Gazan children have been increasingly suffering due to the strangling Israeli blockade.

Saba