Gaza--Israel allowed a shipment of clothes and shoes to be delivered to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the first time in its almost three-year-old blockade of the Hamas-controlled 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 Islamist 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 list of controlled goods also includes items that critics say have no apparent military value, such as children's crayons and books. 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-January 2009 Gaza war. Israel waged the war in Gaza in an attempt to weaken Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group, and halt persistent rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israeli towns.
