The Red Cross has urged the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) to open Gaza crossings before food, medicine, fuel and other necessary supplies to the besieged Gazans.

An IOA spokesman said that the Karni (commercial) crossing might be partially opened next week to allow limited medical and food supplies into the Gaza Strip that has been completely sealed off from the entire world as of last Sunday when Palestinian resistance fighters captured an Israeli soldier and still are holding him hoping to swap him for hundreds of Palestinian women and children prisoners languishing in IOA prisons.

The Red Cross spokesman said that Israel was obliged by the international law to allow entry of necessary needs to the Gaza population especially when fuel was about to run out. PA officials said that the fuel stores could only last for one week.

The spokesman expressed concern over the humanitarian ramifications of the Israeli military escalation on the Strip that was coupled with closing all crossings and destruction of the sole power station in the Strip.

For its part, the UN world food program (WFP) pointed out that 70% of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were living below the poverty line and were barely earning their daily food needs.

It said that 600,000 Palestinians in the Strip are now depending on the WFP for their sustenance with a soaring increase of 25%, largely due to the Israeli siege and ban on entry of Gazan laborers into the green line (Palestinian lands occupied since 1948).