Israel allowed a shipment of clothes and shoes to be delivered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday for the first time in its almost three-year-old blockade of the enclave. Palestinian officials said the goods arrived in the territory via Israel's Kerem Shalom border crossing. Ten truckloads of clothing and footwear were expected during the day. Gaza merchants said the shipment would not fill their stocks and demanded Israel release goods long held in its sea ports. The Israeli government is under international pressure to relax its blockade, which the United Nations says punishes Gaza's 1.5 million people over the policy of Hamas, which is pledged to Israel's destruction. Israel bans shipments of cement and steel to Gaza on the grounds that Hamas could use them for military purposes. Its long list of controlled goods also includes items that critics say have no apparent military value, such as children's crayons and books. However, Israel will allow a rare shipment of cement into Gaza to be used in a UN sewerage project in the blockaded territory, a military official said Sunday. “In the coming days we will allow some trucks carrying cement to pass for a specific project to rebuild a wastewater unit which is being handled by the United Nations,” the official said on condition of anonymity. He said the decision by Defense Minister Ehud Barak “does not mark a change in policy” towards the Palestinian Hamas movement. “Israel will not allow the reconstruction of Gaza, which we regard as a terrorist entity because it is controlled by Hamas and the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still held captive,” he said. Gaza has been getting most of its consumer goods via tunnels from neighboring Egypt operated by smugglers who add on hefty surcharges. Egypt is building an underground wall to block the tunnels, which have been frequently bombed by Israel since it launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip 14 months ago with the declared aim of curbing cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the December 2008
