Israel lets Palestinians flee; UN warns of crisis (Jan 2, 4:12 PM EST)

[Adsos Letter]

By ARON HELLER and IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer

EREZ CROSSING, Israel (AP) -- Israel allowed several hundred Palestinians with foreign passports to flee Gaza on Friday, even as its warplanes bombed a mosque it said was used to store weapons and destroyed homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives.

The evacuees told of crippling shortages of water, electricity and medicine, echoing a U.N. warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip in the seven-day-old Israeli campaign. The U.N. estimates at least a quarter of the 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Hamas militants were civilians.

Jawaher Hajji, a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who was allowed to cross into Israel, said her uncle was one of them - killed while trying to pick up some medicine for her cancer-stricken father. She said her father later died of his illness.

"They are supposed to destroy just the Hamas, but people in their homes are dying too," Hajji, who has relatives in Virginia, said at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Hamas' leaders of holding the people of Gaza hostage and said an end to violence would only be possible once Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel. She said the United States continues to seek a "durable and sustainable" cease-fire.


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

[Name removed]

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[Idealism]

2. How is it Hamas is holding them hostage when Israel won't let them out?

Brilliant Condi