The FINANCIAL -- GAZA, Israeli authorities have refused to allow medical equipment worth $800,000 to be transferred to the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported on October 30.

The news agency quoted a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) as saying Israel had prevented, for the fourth time, the transfer of medical equipment to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, even though WHO had provided the required permit.

There has so far been no official comment from Israel.

The Gaza Strip has been the subject of an almost continuous Israeli blockade since radical Islamic group Hamas took control of the enclave in the summer of 2007, ousting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement after five days of armed conflict.

However, Israel has so far permitted humanitarian supplies to the enclave, as well as transfers of some essential goods.

Related Stories

• Afghanistan: Pessimism and Criticism of President Both Increase
• Number of China's millionaires grows despite global recession
• 20-year-old South Korean model found dead in Paris apartment