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OPT: Jordan sends humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip

AMMAN, Nov 24, 2008 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Jordan on Monday sent aid convoys to the Gaza Strip to help ease the suffering of Palestinians caused by the Israeli blockade, according to the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO).

Secretary General of the charity group Mohammad Majid Aitan said the 10-truck convoy is laden with medicine and food. The aids will be distributed in cooperation with the Palestinian Red Crescent, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA) and the Palestinian National Authority.

Jordan's king Abdullah II on Sunday told a meeting of EU ambassadors to Jordan that Israel's continue blockade creates a " humanitarian catastrophe" with destructive impact on Palestinians

He urged international community to move quickly to break the Israeli blockade and facilitate entry of humanitarian aids.

Despite requests from the EU and the UN, Israel continued a complete lockdown of the coastal Gaza Strip, keeping cargo crossings, a main passageway for fuel and humanitarian aid, shut in response to rocket and mortar fire at Israeli border towns.

The JHCO has so far dispatched 243 convoys loaded with humanitarian and medical aid to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, said the organization.