Israel to allow fuel used for generating electricity, cooking gas into Gaza

Tuesday April 15, 2008 19:42

by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

Israeli government sources told media agencies on Tuesday that Israel will resume on Wednesday supplying Gaza with minimum quantities of fuel needed to generate electricity and cooking gas

File - 2007

Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, stated in an interview with the Israeli army radio that Israel will not supply the Gaza Strip with fuel needed for transportation, adding that shipments will only include fuel needed to generate electricity and cooking gas.

The shipments will be transferred through the Nahal-Oz border crossing located in the northern part of the Gaza strip.

Last week, Palestinian fighters attacked the Nahal-Oz terminal and killed two Israelis. The fighters said that the attack comes in response to the ongoing siege on Gaza and the ongoing Israeli shelling and military assaults.

Last Wednesday, the Israeli army killed eight Palestinians, including three children.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), based in Gaza, stated on Tuesday that the cuts of transportation fuel have paralyzed the movement of Gazans by 80%.

The PCHR added that the Health, Water, and Education sectors in Gaza are 50% paralyzed due to fuel shortages.

The Israeli army has placed Gaza under a strict siege since June 2007, leaving the coastal region in sharp shortages of fuel, medicine, water, and food supplies.

Since June 2007, Israel has refused to allow any Palestinian patient from leaving Gaza for treatment abroad. By Monday, the total number of Palestinian patients who died due to the ongoing siege arrived to 133.

UNRWA Commissioner-General, Karen Abu Zeid, stated on Monday that the situation in the Gaza Strip is disastrous, and that extensive efforts are needed to end the crisis in the coastal region.

During a Monday evening meeting with Legislator Jamal Al Khodary, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege. Abu Zeid called upon international organizations and human rights groups to finance Gaza and save it from the consequences of the ongoing siege.