Israel calls rights' report biased`

JERUSALEM, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Israel accused rights' groups of bias following a report saying measures taken to ease the blockade in Gaza were insufficient.

Five months after Israel agreed to take measures to improve the situation in Gaza, 22 international human rights groups and humanitarian organizations, including Amnesty International and Oxfam International, said in a report Tuesday there have been no real signs of improvement and accused Israel of failing to live up to its promises, The Jerusalem Post said.

The report said Israel had failed to accelerate the flow of construction materials into Gaza as promised and had only approved 7 percent of building plans for United Nations Relief and Works Agency schools. It also alleged because of this, 40,000 Palestinian children were forced into Hamas-run facilities instead.

"We regret the manner by which the organizations have chosen to present their claims through the media, without providing Israel with the opportunity to respond to the report," said a statement issued by Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, charged with overseeing the materials that enter Gaza.

"The claims of the organizations, as they appear in the report, are biased and distorted and therefore mislead the public ... . It is crucial to highlight that since the day the Cabinet took its decision, the number of trucks entering the Gaza Strip every day via the Kerem Shalom Crossing has increased by 92 percent," the statement said.