Unless Israel eases restrictions on the movement of vital goods and humanitarian workers into and out of the West Bank, it will remain impossible to meet the needs of the Palestinian people, according to a new United Nations report made public on Thursday.

"It will remain impossible to meet the needs in the occupied Palestinian territory without a full opening of all crossings into Gaza and a significant easing of restrictions of movement into, out of and within the West Bank, including East Jerusalem," UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon writes in a report outlining UN efforts to support the Palestinian population and institutions.

"Improvements must be made in order to allow the population in the West Bank access to livelihoods and social services and to maintain normal social and economic relations," Ban said in the report to the UN Security Council.

The report, which covers the period from May 2008 to April 2009,states that increased isolation, internal Palestinian divisions and the armed conflict of December 2008-January 2009 led to "substantial economic and humanitarian deterioration" in the Gaza Strip.

"Throughout the reporting period, most of the United Nations projects were halted owing to the lack of materials in Gaza," says the report. "It became increasingly difficult to carry out humanitarian operations, and in November 2008, the Israeli authorities further restricted access of aid workers as well as delivery of commercial and humanitarian goods into Gaza."

"Relief items, equipment and construction material, and spare parts need to be allowed into Gaza, as should the free movement of goods and persons, the free and sustained movement of humanitarian personnel, and regular cash flows," the report states.

Last week, humanitarian chief to the occupied Palestinian territory Maxwell Gaylard told reporters that Gaza was "close to a welfare society" as nearly 80 percent of the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza are forced to rely on assistance from the United Nations Relief Work Agency for Palestine.

According to the report, real gross domestic product was estimated to have declined by 13 percent from a year before, while per capita income dipped to almost 34 percent below its level in 2000.

The report also notes that the Palestinian Authority continues to make progress establishing security in several Palestinian cities in the West Bank, which has led to improved business confidence. However, the report adds, progress in the development of sector-specific strategies was relatively slow.

During the past several weeks, Ban has held high-level meetings with various Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, where he urged for the blockade to be lifted. However, Israel fears that Hamas will use the building materials to make rockets.

"Unfortunately (building materials) were used in the past in order to develop missiles and rockets against Israel," Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development of Israel Silvan Shalom told reporters on Wednesday after his meeting with Ban. "We are not giving those who are intent to kill us the materials in order to do it. We will do it in a way that will help Palestinians, not the Hamas."

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)