UN under attack in Gaza

Middle East Newsline -: "UN PRESENCE IN GAZA COMES UNDER THREAT

GAZA CITY [MENL] -- After decades of feeding and housing refugees, the United Nations has come under threat in the Palestinian Authority.

PA officials acknowledge that Islamist fighters have launched a campaign to expel or seize control of the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip. The officials said the gunmen, believed linked to several militias, have driven out nearly all foreign staffers of UNRWA as they seek to control operations in refugee camps in the PA.

'The huge majority of foreign UN personnel are no longer in Gaza,' an official said. 'The idea is to intimidate or expel the rest of them and gain access to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding and supplies for the refugee camps.'

On March 16, Palestinian gunmen sought to abduct UNRWA operations chief John Ging, one of the few senior officials left in the Gaza Strip. The gunmen blocked an armed convoy and fired at least five times toward Ging's vehicle. Nobody was hurt and the gunmen escaped."