Gaza Strip, 28/12/2004 (03:00AM): A PRCS ambulance was stopped and denied access at Al Tuffah checkpoint, while on route to transport a woman in labor to a local Palestinian hospital.

2004 ended on a note of high optimism in the international community regarding the revived potential for a breakthrough in the Palestine Israel conflict, brought about by the prospects of a new leadership for the Palestinian Authority and of Ariel Sharon's Gaza Disengagement Plan. The reality for Palestine refugees living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza however remained largely unchanged in the latter half of the year as the emergency situation not only persisted but, at points, reached new lows.

According to data collected by UNRWA's

The funds will be used to meet budget priorities identified by the Ministry of Finance, including the costs of electricity, water, sewage and other utility services.

The cash transfer will not only provide urgently needed budgetary support to the Palestinian Authority, but will

Mahmoud Zahar, member of the political leadership of Hamas, said in an exclusive interview with the daily that it was the intifada (uprising) which made Israel prepare to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the northern parts of the West Bank.

If Israel ended occupation and respected

Deaths: 14
Injured: 35 (approximate)

Israelis:

Deaths: 1
Injured: 1

Sources: OCHA FCU, PRCS, UNRWA, IDF website, Israeli MoFA.

2. Incidents involving ambulances and medical teams1

West Bank:

Denial of access: 0
Delay (30 minutes): 1
Shooting/Damage to Ambulance: 0

Gaza:

Denial of access: 2 Delay (30 minutes): 1
Shooting/Damage to Ambulance: 3

22 December: Parts of the boundary wall of Mubarak hospital in Khan Younis was torn down by the IDF.

22 December: IDF gunfire in the area

On 23 and 26 December, ICRC delegates interviewed the detainees who were to be released by the Israeli authorities in private, in order to ascertain that they agreed by their own free will to their release and the location of their release. Acting in its capacity as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC monitored on 27 December the release of these persons from Israeli detention places to the Palestinian Territories.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention of

The following table lists incidents of delay of access during this reporting period.

Palestinian sources said the blast had been caused by an Israeli tank shell but the army insisted that its forces had not been firing at the time.

Rami Abu Akr, 22, and Abed Abu Namus, 24, were killed while two of Akr's brothers and one of his sisters were also wounded in the incident close to the Neve Dekalim Jewish settlement.

Witnesses said the Israeli army had been

As an accredited local monitoring organization, PCHR has sent two letters to the Palestinian Central Election Commission (CEC) relating to the stages of the presidential election, which will be held on 9 January 2005.

In the first letter, PCHR called for an explanation of the reasons for the non-establishment of a district election commission in accordance with article 27 of the Law 13 of 1995 Relating to Elections, which prescribes the establishment of such commissions and appointment their members in each electoral constituency. Article 28 of